For Love and Bullets
by Neo Rabbit Keeper Of NeoVerse
Summary: This story centers on a killer for hire, whose on the verge of retirement, finds romance in the streets of Los Angeles. RR. No flames.
1. The Quiet and the Deads

**For Love and Bullets**  
**A Looney Tunes**/**AU Fanfiction**  
By **Neo Rabbit**

Disclaimer: The Looney Tunes Characters belong to Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Rating: **R for Strong Violence, Language, Sexual Content, and Drug Use.**

Genre: **Action/Adventure, Romance, Crime, and Thriller

* * *

**Chapter One: **The Quiet and The Deads**

Location: **Brooklyn, New York**

It grew quiet outside in the city of New York at night. Although many pedestrians were waltzing the sidewalk and cars roaming the streets, it still remains quiet.

Inside of a building complex, a mid-40s delicately dressed bald man, who appears to be overweight in size, was standing in front of a table full of twelve delicately dressed men; Specifically, eight on opposite sides. And from the looks of their suited attires, they appear to be an organized crime syndicate.

The bald man puffed on a cigar and blew out smoke. As the smoke floated about, the bald man addresses his men.

"Do we have any business to discuss?" He asked in a hoarse Brooklyn tone of voice

The third man on the right nodded in response.

"Yeah, boss. We do. There is the matter of the forty grands that was owed to us by a Donavon Franklin. He was due last week, but never returned our calls."

The bald man issued an inward growl, which somewhat becomes sort of a grunt sound before speaking.

"Call him one last time. If he doesn't answer, then, you boys know what to do tomorrow."

Each that was presence issued nods of understandment as the bald man gestured them to leave the room.

One by one, each man left the room out the door on the far-off corner as the man turned towards the full length window behind him. The nametag he wore on his coat shined upon the moonlight labeling his name as '_Fat Tommy_' as he puffed on the cigar before releasing smoke from his mouth.

As he savored the smoke, he was completely unaware of a small red dot trailing up his coat to his forehead.

Tom was briefly able to see the laser sight blind his eye a bit before it went to his forehead. He shook his head of the blindness before coming to focus with his sight again. Then, he took notice of something out in the distance from where the inscrutable laser sight came from.

Outside at the top of another building complex rooftop, a tall mysterious dark suited masked figure was on one knee, steadily aiming a highly standard sniper rifle at its target.

The figure seems to grow still as its finger steadied the trigger of the gun while looking through a well-sighted telescope.

Inside the building, despite the fact that the sight was reticled to his forehead from his notice, Tom narrowed his eyes a bit to steady his gaze upon the mysterious shadow for a clear visual. Then, he noticed a small silhouette crouched at the top of the other building's rooftop.

"Who the fuck is that?" He asked himself

Outside on the building's rooftop, the figure instantly pulled the trigger and the sound of a silence bullet shot from the barrel.

As the bullet soared, it issued a small crack to the window.

Tom's head snapped back as the bullet hits his forehead. Then, the bullet somehow ricocheted the tip of the table leaving a small dent on it.

Silence, Tom slowly lifted his head up where a hole was emitting smoke from his forehead. As he had a look of shock in his eyes, the door opened from the far side and one of his men came waltzing in.

The man halted his walk at the front of the table with his arms behind his back before speaking.

"Excuse me, boss. We--" He stopped himself in mid-sentence.

(Slow-Motion)

The man took notice of the cigar that Tom held in his left-hand fall to the floor with a booming thud where the fiery ash broke apart from the cigar upon impact.

(Regular-Motion)

The man slowly gazed from the ground to his boss with a concerned expression on his face before speaking.

"Uh, boss? Are you okay?" He asked

Subconsciously, Tom turned his whole body around where a hole was at the back of his head literally issuing blood from both sides of the injury.

The man grew shocked in witness to this as Tom instantly dropped face-first to the floor motionless. Gritting his teeth in shock, the man dashed out the room.

After five minutes, all twelve men rushed the room towards where Tom stood and got a glimpse of Tom's corpse on the floor. Half of them grew horrified, while the other half grew disgusted.

"Holy shit. Who the fuck did this?" A second man asked

The first man grew confused at first as to how would anyone come in and shoot their boss without their notice. Then, he took notice of the crack in the window. With his left hand, he touched the crack on the window and nearly flinched when he felt the hot sensation of it.

"Shit. Somebody took him out from the window."

The fourth man gazed him in disbelief.

"You gotta be kiddin'! The fuckin' window?"

"Yeah. The glass is hot." He answered

"Who did it?"

Before the first man could answer, he took notice of a laser sight on his forehead, then gazed out the clear window to catch sight of a silhouette figure on the distance rooftop.

His eyes widen in shock.

"Shit. He's on the fuckin' roof!"

He reached to upholster his gun, but never had the chance for a bullet pierced his forehead.

As he hits the ground motionless, the other eleven men got on alert.

"Fuck!" The second guy said

As they all upholstered their guns, they aimed and fired shards of bullets, which resulted in shattering the full-length window.

Outside on the rooftop, the figure ducks from the bullets, which hits the concrete, got back out and opened rapid fire of silenced bullets upon the building complex.

Inside the building, as the men kept their shooting up, a fourth man's body was convulse by bullets literally causing him to uncontrollably fire his gun at the fifth guy's chest issuing an amount of blood from his injury.

Outside, the bullets shattered pieces of concrete as the figure rolled to the left with its gun, got up, aimed at its target, and resumed firing.

The third man was caught off-guard as bullets smeared his left ankle, then made impact with his chest before he grew motionless on ground.

The second man notices and grits his teeth in frustration.

"Shit. Back Up! Back Up!" He ordered

The sixth man gazed him angrily.

"Who the fuck put you in charge!" He asked

However, that question led to an advantage as bullets rained on his chest before he grew motionless on the ground.

The third man grimaced and instructed the others to retreat backward while firing.

Outside, the figure took notice of them retreating back before looking through the telescope and aimed directly at the first sight it saw.

Inside the building, as the men kept fire, several bullets smeared the ankles of the seventh and eighth man as they screamed in agonizing pain whilst blood flowed from their injuries.

Outside, while the bullets pierced the concrete from the building, the figure aimed at another part of the window and started firing.

In the building, a bullet hits a ninth man's forehead before he quickly hits the ground, back first.

There were only three lefts excluding two of which that are groaning in pain from their smeared ankles.

The three men resumed their fire when the tenth man instantly clicked his gun for he was out of ammo resulting in his demise with a few bullets to the chest.

The third man threw his gun aside and took out and extra one before resuming fire.

Outside, the figure took clear aim at the eleventh man's gun and fired.

Inside, the man's gun was shot from his hand before a few bullets rained his chest.

The third man stopped firing and gazed in shock as he was the last man standing, save the two groaning in agonizing pain. The man started panting uncontrollably before he felt something on his chest. Slowly looking, he saw a laser sight trail to his forehead, having him come to gaze with the mysterious silhouette in the far distance, holding the weapon at ease.

With a tense look on his face and a glare in his eyes, he spoke.

"Fuck you!"

Then, he aimed.

And a silence shot came and staggered his head back, forcing him to fire upward in another direction before falling motionless to the ground.

With all ten men deadpanned excluding the ones moaning in pain, the building itself became briefly dead.

Outside, the mysterious figure slowly stood, gazing upon the inside of the building very sternly. With its gun in the right hand's grasp, the left hand removes the figure's mask to reveal a face of grey with long ears of a rabbit that's casted backwards, long whiskers, an inch bucktooth, and black pupil eyes sternly gazing the danger area with a frown on his face.

The figure twitched its whiskers with an emotionless sign before reaching a small CB radio and spoke into it.

"Targets eliminated." He spoke in a deep, sinister Brooklyn accent.

The rabbit grew silence before an inaudible voice came from the radio.

Silence, the rabbit responded.

"Undastood." He said

He pressed a button to end the transmission and pocketed the radio before walking away from the area into the darken night.


	2. City Of Angels

Chapter Two: **City Of Angels**

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the police has arrived at the crime scene investigating the entire building complex area using flashlights and taking a couple of photos for use of evidences. So far, they haven't found any luck on the culprit.

* * *

In another part of town, the mysterious grey rabbit, which wore shades to hide his eyes and a long trench gray coat, entered a taxi with a duffel bag in one hand and a briefcase in the other. After entrance, he closed the door behind him. 

In the car, the cab driver gazed halfway to the rabbit.

"Where to, buddy?" He asked

The rabbit grew silence before speaking.

"NYC Airport." He answered

The cab driver nodded before pressing on the accelerator and driving the cab.

During the twenty-minute ride, the rabbit caught interest to the news on television that's positioned in between the seats.

On television, they showed the scene of the building complex where the police were outside after further investigations of the incident.

"About fifteen minutes ago, a local organized crime syndicate led by local crime boss, Tommy DiVocco AKA Fat Tommy, were mysteriously assassinated. Polices were in for investigations, but shows no leads on the culprit. We'll have more highlights for you in moments. For now, I'm Linda Franko, Channel Eight News."

While driving, the cab driver looked up his front mirror at the mysterious rabbit, then back at the road before speaking.

"You comfortable back there, stranger?" He asked

Briefly silence, the rabbit nodded.

"Yep! Thanks fer askin', doc."

The cab driver nodded.

"Pleasure. You know, you're not the first mysterious person that I picked up."

The rabbit's facial gaze grew of interest.

"Oh, really?"

"If you don't mind me saying, Mr., uh..."

"Bunny. Bugs Bunny. And, um, no. Go right ahead."

The cab driver snickered before relating to Bugs about the pickup of his first mysterious stranger, in which Bugs listened with interest for the entire ride.

Outside, after several minutes and less traffic, the cab eventually made it to the airport as the back door open letting Bugs Bunny out the car.

Reaching in his trench coat pocket, he took out his wallet and gave the cab driver a fifty and a twenty dollar bill for the fare.

The cab driver gazed the cash in surprise before gazing Bugs.

"The fee was sixty nine dollars and 70 cents, buddy."

Bugs smiled.

"Keep da change, doc."

The cab driver smiled.

"You're a life saver, buddy. See ya."

Bugs salute him on as the cab drove away. Bugs turned and entered the crowded NYC Airport.

* * *

Inside, he entered a terminal while a conveyor belt was scanning his briefcase and duffel bag. As he approached a desk, a female black vulture wearing a delicate coat and skirt was at the desk. She issued a lighthearted smile when she saw Bugs. 

"Hello, sir." She greeted

Bugs smiled.

"What's up?"

The female vulture giggles before speaking.

"May I have the destination of your flight, please?"

Bugs nodded.

"California."

"Okay. That'll be One Hundred and four dollars and ninety cents, please."

Bugs grabbed his wallet from his pocket and took out a hundred-and-ten dollar bill before handing it to the feminine vulture at the desk.

She took it with a smile kept to her face.

"Thank you."

As she placed the cash in the register, she issued Bugs a plane ticket for his flight.

Naturally, Bugs takes them.

"Thank you." Bugs said

"Your welcome. Enjoy your flight."

With a gesture of his ticket to her, Bugs left her sight towards the gate entrance pass several chattering peoples.

"_Flight 747 from New York to California is now boarding._" A female voice on P.A responded

* * *

On the plane, after placing his briefcase and duffel bag in the storage compartment, Bugs sat down next to a blue panther wearing a delicate blue coat and pant including shoes on feet's. He has two cat-like ears on both sides of his head, and green pupil eyes. 

They both kept their gazes from each other before the panther spoke.

"You're timing is a little late." He spoke.

Bugs kept his gaze from him, taking notice of his anxiety, and grew unresponsive.

"Are your weapons in that duffel bag of yours."

Briefly silence, Bugs spoke.

"Yeah. I explained to dem dat I was using it for target practice. Dat's all."

"What about the money and the laptop in your briefcase."

Bugs exhaled deeply before speaking.

"All accounted for. Look, Gary, would ya relax?" He asked, eventually gazing the panther and spoke softly. "Nobody suspected anything."

Gary met Bugs' gaze before speaking.

"Then keep it that way."

Their gaze to each other only lasted two minutes before they slowly gazed from each other.

Then, a flight stewardess, who was a goat with a stewardess attire on, two horns on her head, eyelashes on her eyes, lipstick on her lips, and purple pupil eyes, came by their seats.

Bugs looked up at her in notice.

"Hello! I'm Mary Jinkons. I'll be your flight stewardess for the rest of the flight. Shall I get you anything while we take flight?"

Bugs issued a smile before speaking.

"Eh, do you have sliced carrots?" He asked

* * *

The plane took flight into the misty evening air towards their long destination.

* * *

_  
Location: _**Downtown Los Angeles**

_Los Angeles_...the city of angels was a beautiful sight to see throughout the afternoon horizon. Birds flying in the distance and many humans and toons alike were going about their daily routines whether walking on sidewalks or driving in assorted vehicles.

* * *

Bugs Bunny rode in a cab after what seems like a ten to eleven hour flight. With his duffel bag and briefcase in the trunk, he gazed at the outside area at the passing building. 

Outside, from his point of view, he saw lots of people whether it's humans or toons. But, in a higher standard, it's all the same. He saw pedestrians waltzing the sidewalk tending to their daily routines, but ignored that as a disinterest.

Other than that, he wanted to be home and this was his home.

"Home sweet home." He softly said

Moments later, the cab dropped him off at an apartment complex. As he got out, he paid his fare, got his duffel bag and briefcase from the trunk and waltz towards the building while the cab drives off into the half-busy streets.

* * *

Inside a neatly decorated apartment room, the front door was being unlocked, then the door opened. 

Bugs entered his apartment room and closed the door behind him after entrance. After that, he went into another room and placed his duffel bag and briefcase on the bed.

Afterwards, Bugs came back into his living room and check the messages on his answering machine. He chuckled a bit when he discovered that he had no messages.

Bugs was about to head to the kitchen when his phone ranged. After two rings, Bugs approached by the couch and answered it.

"What's up, doc?" He answered

After hearing who it was, he snickered lightheartedly.

"Hey, Daffy. Nice of ya to call... (Pause) No, I just walked in. (Pause, Nodded) Sure. We can have lunch. Where do you want me to meet ya?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, Bugs entered a Starbucks coffee shop wearing long gray pants which surprisingly didn't hide his fluffy tail, designed T-shirt, shades on eyes, and a pair of black shoes. 

He looked around the place and was expecting to find Daffy there. But he didn't see him. Bugs could only suspect that Daffy's a little late.

So, without the purpose of standing a friend up, Bugs went over to an empty table and sat down to wait for him. While doing so, he decided to look around the place.

After only two minutes, Bugs managed to catch sight of a black duck with a yellow bill beak, black pupil eyes, and a white collar on his neck.

Daffy Duck was wearing a designed black shirt, long denim pants and black shoes along with shades on his eyes.

When he caught sight of where Bugs is, he approached towards his position and sat opposite to him. Before they could exchange words, a waitress, who's a female hyena dressed in a white outfit, came up to them with a notepad in hand and a smile on her face.

"Hello. Welcome to Starbucks Cafe. Can I take your order?" She asked with her kind, nature voice.

Bugs got into his thoughts before speaking.

"Eh, is da Cafe Mocha still available?" He asked

The waitress nodded.

"Yes, sir."

Bugs nodded.

"I'll have dat order with added cinnamon on da whippings."

The waitress wrote it down on the pad before gazing to Daffy.

"And you, sir?"

Daffy smiled.

"I'll have a Frappaccino this time."

The waitress nodded and wrote it down on the notepad.

"Actually, you know what, make it a vanilla." Daffy rephrased

The waitress re-wrote the order on her pad and nodded to Daffy.

"Okay. You're orders will be in no less than five minutes."

"Thanks." Bugs and Daffy said, unisonly

The waitress made her leave from their table as Bugs threw a surprised gaze to Daffy.

Daffy took notice of it.

"What?"

"Frappaccino? Dat's da foist time I eva seen you order dat since da expresso."

Daffy snickered inwardly.

"Yeah. Well, you know what they say..."

As Daffy started to quote his statement, Bugs joined in on it.

"'Out with the old, in with the new.'"

Bugs nodded.

"I know. You said dat, what, twice already?"

Daffy shrugged.

"Well, I've lost count since then."

Bugs issued a lighthearted, inward chuckle before the waitress came back with their cups of coffee.

"Here you go. One Frappacino and one Cafe Mocha."

Bugs smiled.

"Thanks."

The waitress smiled.

"Your welcome." She said before making her leave from their table.

Bugs and Daffy both sipped and savored their drinks for a while.

After a few minutes of silence, Bugs decided to speak.

"So how's it going with everything?"

Daffy sighed deeply with his gaze from Bugs' view and spoke.

"I don't know. It could go either way." He said, then gazed Bugs. "How 'bout you?"

Bugs lowered his gaze from Daffy and sighed softly.

"Same way."

Daffy took note of his expression and grew quiet before speaking.

"You know, Bugs, you can always quit this shit. You know, start a new life."

Bugs grew silence and spoke.

"Yeah. I wish it were dat easy, Daf." Bugs said softly

Daffy kept his gaze to his friend and nodded comprehensively before silencing himself to not get any further on the issue.

Momentarily, Bugs continues to sip his Mocha coffee paying less attention to the world around him while he closed his eyes to savor the delicious drink.

While that was going on, the front door opened and in walked a female tan rabbit with bare legs. Her ears were casted backwards, giving her a more sensual beauty. She wore a black bandanna on her head which covers her blonde hair, a black leather jacket that covers a pinkish-looking designed shirt, a blue jean-looking skirt that fits her perfectly, and a pair of black heeled shoes that supports her two rabbit feet's. She wore her own pair of white gloves and has a fluffy tail at the back of her rear.

Aside from the appearance, she approached towards the counter to place her order in.

Bugs eventually opened his eyes to sip his drink again, when he frozed in place after catching sight of the beauty that stood inches away from him.

He scanned her slender bare legs and bodacious figure. Yet, he doesn't see her eyes.

Daffy took notice of the predicament and snapped his fingers to Bugs in order to bring him back to reality. However, Bugs didn't make a single blink for he was staring at the beauty in the cafe.

Highly curious, Daffy gazed over where Bugs was looking at to catch sight of the female she-rabbit.

As if on cue, the she-rabbit turned and gazed her beautiful blue eyes over to an empty seat about one seat from Bugs and Daffy's position. Yet, she didn't notice their gazes towards her nor did she gaze their way in return.

Time seems to flow as the female rabbit took off her bandanna to free her beautiful blonde hair, having it wave about freely. Instantly, she started approaching towards her table with both Bugs and Daffy gazing her every move.

Bugs literally got glued to her beauty while Daffy still had curiosity written in his eyes.

Eventually, the she-rabbit sat down in her seat to await her drink unaware that she was under the watchful gazes of Bugs and Daffy.

After a while of silence, Bugs finally spoke.

"Who is dat?"

Daffy shrugged in confusion.

"Beats me. But if you're so eager to know, it's only fair that you go there and ask her."

Bugs issued a stern gaze to Daffy after that statement.

"Ask her?"

Daffy nodded.

"Yeah."

Bugs gazed down from his gaze for a minute in his own thoughts.

After a while, he slightly shook his head.

"Gee, I don't know. I--I just saw her come in da cafe. I--I don't think she would be interested."

Daffy grew a bit surprised by that before speaking.

"_Won't be interested?_ Are you kidding? A beautiful girl like that and you're telling me that you don't think that she would be interested?"

Bugs hesitated a bit before speaking.

"Well, yeah."

Daffy gazed him suspiciously before speaking.

"You're not afraid, are you?"

Bugs was caught by surprise from that comment and spoke.

"No, I'm--" He started to say before Daffy intervened

"A mercenary shouldn't be afraid to talk with a female."

Bugs gazed Daffy in surprise after that comment.

Daffy took notice.

"What?"

"Who said I was a mercenary?"

Daffy grimaced a bit in annoyance as Bugs instantly raised his hands up defenselessly.

"I'm sorry. May-Maybe you're right. But what am I gonna say to her?" He asked

Daffy sighed deeply and spoke.

"You know, you're asking the wrong duck. But, if I were you, and I'll be goddamned if I am, I would come up with my own words of wisdom to talk to a lady."

Picking up his coffee, Daffy got up from his seat as Bugs gazed up at him.

"Did dat woik for you?"

Daffy smiled.

"You'll never know unless you try."

As Daffy left the table, Bugs called out to him again.

Daffy stopped inches from the door and turned to Bugs.

"Where ya goin?"

"To work. I got a job too, you know."

Bugs chuckled inwardly as Daffy left the cafe.

After a few minutes, Bugs got into his own thoughts before taking notice of the waitress heading over towards the she-rabbit's table with her order of a whipped hot chocolate.

Bugs chuckled a bit at this.

'_So she likes hot chocolate. Cool._' He thought. '_Well, I guess Daffy's right. It wouldn't hurt to talk._'

When he notice the waitress leaving from her seat, he slowly got up and approached towards her seat.

The female rabbit sipped on her whipped hot chocolate and sat the cup down savoring the taste with her eyes closed. As she did, she was unaware that Bugs approached her position.

As soon as Bugs was in front of the table, he grew into thought a bit and got briefly nervous to speak. But once again had to remind himself of what Daffy has said which regained his courage.

With an inward sigh, he cleared his throat a bit louder for her to hear.

Instantly, the she-rabbit opened her blue eyes and noticed his presence.

Bugs notice and smiled.

"What's up, doc?"

The she-rabbit had her mouth open a bit and spoke.

"Can I, uh, help you?" She asked

Bugs swallowed saliva a bit before speaking.

"Um, Hi. My-My name is Bugs Bunny." He greeted before extending his hand

The she-rabbit gazed his hand, then at him before smiling and took his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Bugs Bunny. My name is Lola. Lola Bunny."

Bugs smiled.

"Lola. Dat's a nice name."

Lola nodded.

"So is Bugs." She complimented

Bugs slightly nodded.

"Yeah. May-May I sit down?"

Lola nodded.

"Sure."

Bugs sat opposite her in the chair as Lola sipped her drink to which Bugs took notice of.

"You know, I couldn't help but notice dat you like hot chocolate."

"Oh, yeah. I love it aside from carrots."

Bugs nodded.

'_She likes carrots too._' He thought

"So...what brings you here, Ms. Lola?"

Lola snickered inwardly at the formality of her name before she spoke.

"Well, I sometimes come here on numerous occasions before I could go off to work and such. Just like everybody else."

Bugs nodded agreeably.

"Same here. You know, I just came from a trip in New York and haven't had a good day's coffee in hours."

Lola nodded in agreement.

"Coffee's a good part of waking up."

"Yeah, I know. Didn't have time to get any on da plane since I slept for a long couple of hours."

Lola giggles as Bugs started sipping his Mocha.

Lola took notice of it.

"You like Cafe Mocha?"

Bugs swallowed his coffee before speaking.

"Oh, yeah. Aside from carrots."

Both Bugs and Lola chuckled after that last statement.

"Do--Do you like it?" Bugs asked

"Like I said, '_On numerous occasions when I come here.'_"

Bugs nodded.

"Oh."

Instantly, the sound of a pager was heard as Bugs notice.

"What's dat?"

Lola reached down and checked the pager hooked on the outside of her skirt. When she found out who was paging her, she carefully finished drinking her hot chocolate and placed the mug on the table.

Bugs grew surprised by this as she swallowed her drink before speaking to Bugs.

"My pager. I gotta go to work." She said before using a napkin to wipe the whipping from her mouth.

As she got up, Bugs followed suit in a bit of desperation.

"So, uh...you know where I can find ya if we can, you know, finish our conversation?" He asked

Lola gazed Bugs at a loss for words.

"Well..."

Bugs' ears lowered in dejection along with a frown on his face as Lola noticed.

"You okay?" She asked

Bugs grew silence and spoke.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm okay."

Briefly silence, Lola sighed deeply and dug in her pocket.

Bugs notice as Lola gave him a small card.

"What's on that card is where you can meet me tonight." She said

Bugs smiled a bit.

"Thanks."

Lola smiled and walked from Bugs' sight.

As soon as she was out of sight, Bugs grew a bit surprised by his reactions.

'_What da hell was dat? Was-Was I desperate or somethin'?_' He thought

Before he could answer his thoughts, he gazed the card that was given to him by Lola. On the card it reads, '_Sizzler._'

It suddenly became clear to Bugs that it was gonna be a dinner. But it was more than that. Slowly, he gazed forward aimlessly from the card in surprise.

'_Do I have feelings for 'dis goil?_' He thought

After a bit of silence, he shook his head in denial.

Momentarily, he pocketed the card and left the cafe with his drink leaving the many people inside to enjoy their beverages.


	3. Dinner and the Night Job

Chapter Three: **Dinner and the Night Job

* * *

**That very afternoon, Bugs arrived inside a large thirty-story building. As he waltzed the area, he removed the shades from his eyes since he wasn't outside in the open for the bright, afternoon sun. 

Other associates greeted him upon arrival as he returned the favor and moved on. Eventually, he stopped in front of an elevator and pressed a button before waiting.

After a few minutes of waiting, the elevator opened.

Bugs grew a bit surprised that no one was in it. Nevertheless, he approached inside the shaft shortly before the double silver door closed.

Inside of a room, a male mid-forty's lion, whose wearing a tuxedo suit with a gold label on it that reads, 'Javier Devilin', was sitting at a long decorated desk. The two guards, who appear to be panthers in tuxedo suits, were guarding him from the left and right sides of the desk.

Aside from his attire, he has short red hair, sharp jaws for teethes, red fiery eyes, claws from hands to feet and a long tail at the back.

He sat quietly with his hands crossed at the front of him silently awaiting his prodigy.

As on cue, the double door opened and Bugs Bunny entered the medium size room while the doors closed on its own.

Javier got up from his desk and spreads his greeting arms open followed by a smile on his face.

"Welcome, Mr. Bugs Bunny." He replied in a Russian tone of voice. "So nice of you to arrive on such short notice. I personally would like to congratulate you on job well done."

With a frown on his face, Bugs stopped inches from his desk on his track and spoke.

"With all due respect, sir, I would like to get straight to da point. I want out."

Javier issued a surprised look towards Bugs and spoke.

"What?"

"You heard what I said. I want my money, and a new life. And I want it now."

Silence, Javier nodded before walking away from his desk by the shelf with his back to Bugs.

With his arms firmly folded, Bugs stood there awaiting his pay and the papers of resignation for his retirement.

After a few minutes and clear thinking, Javier turned to face Bugs with a stern look on his face.

Bugs noticed and stood his position waiting for his answer.

"One last job." He stated

Bugs' eyes widened upon that comment.

"Excuse me?"

Javier approached his desk and opened the front drawer before speaking.

"One last job..." He pulled out some photographed pictures and placed them on the desk. "And you're done."

Bugs gazed the pictures, then at Javier suspiciously before speaking.

"How do I know dat 'dis isn't interpreted as a lie?"

Javier shook his head.

"You don't."

Silence, Bugs steadied his gaze a bit before twitching his whiskers. He couldn't help but notice that his boss is probably playing him over just to get him to resume his work.

But, one last job is one last job, Bugs thought in agreement.

"Whose da guy in da pictures?" He asked, a bit sinisterly

Javier smiled wickedly in satisfaction before speaking.

"His name is Russell Styles. He's current drug trafficker that's not far from downtown. Your job is to dispatch him immediately before he carries out the next trade."

Bugs gazed from the pictures to Javier.

"I have a dinner early tonight, sir."

Javier nodded.

"Then you'll do it later tonight. Be sure to not be compromised."

Bugs slightly nodded.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Early in the night, Bugs got out the cab in front of the Sizzler restaurant and observes the place. Wearing his white T-shirt and black pant, he approached the front door.

Inside, many peoples and toons were inside enjoying their meals while some were at a salad bar picking out all sorts of foods to choose from.

At a lounge, Lola was seated there talking on a cellphone while awaiting Bugs' arrival.

While she listened on the phone, she noticed Bugs' presence on the other side of the lounge.

"I'm having dinner tonight." She said on the phone

As she listened on the line, she nodded in response.

"Okay. Bye."

She hung up her cellphone and sat still waiting for Bugs.

After a few minutes, Bugs arrived and sat opposite to her.

With both issuing smiles to each other in greetings, Bugs spoke.

"Hi." He greeted

"Hi." She said

Bugs sat up a bit before speaking.

"Didn't know you liked Sizzler."

Lola snickered a bit.

"Um, you didn't ask."

Bugs snickered.

"Maybe I should have."

They both chuckled softly before they saw a human waiter come up to their table with a notepad in hand.

"Welcome to Sizzler. My name is Andrew Carson and I'll be your waiter today."

Bugs and Lola nodded in response.

The waiter smiled.

"So, are you ready to order?" He asked

Separately, Bugs and Lola took their time to place in their meal order for only a few minutes while the waiter awaits their decision.

Eventually, Bugs placed his order in while Lola followed suit. However, when they did their one-by-one order, they issued one-by-one surprised looks towards each other due to the food that they have ordered.

Nonetheless, they disregarded it for a second as the waiter wrote their meal orders on the notepad. Afterwards, he gazed them with a nod and a smile, then spoke.

"Okay. We'll be forty minutes for both your orders."

Bugs and Lola slightly nodded in response as the waiter left their sight.

After he did, both Bugs and Lola issued the same surprised gazes towards each other for the obvious reason.

Both were silence before Bugs spoke.

"A malibu chicken sandwich?" He asked. "You must be hungry."

Lola scoffed and spoke.

"A T-bone steak? Wow, you must be hungry."

Bugs issued an inward chuckle and spoke.

"I guess we both are."

Lola snickered.

"I agree."

Bugs kept his smile and spoke.

"So, what do you do?"

Lola grew confused a bit and spoke.

"I'm sorry?"

"Your job. What do you do?"

Silence, Lola gazed down and sighed a bit before speaking while Bugs grew at interest.

"Uh, you know...I run a couple of errands. Nothing fancy."

Bugs snickered a bit.

"Delivery is nothin' fancy?"

Lola gazed him surprisingly and spoke.

"Who said it was delivery?"

Bugs shrugged a bit and spoke.

"It's-It's nothing, really. I'm just assumin' dat when you said _'running errands_,' I..."

Lola's chuckling, as she spoke, instantly cuts him off.

"You automatically assumed that it was delivery?" She asked

Bugs sighed and slightly nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry, it was kinda offensive."

Lola shook her head.

"No, no, no. It's okay. Your assumption isn't an offensive gesture at all." She said and chuckled a bit. "Which is actually kind of cute when you think about it."

Bugs chuckled.

"Well..."

"And, no, it's not delivery. Technically, it is. But I wouldn't call it delivery, just errands."

Silence a bit, Bugs nodded.

"Oh."

Before Bugs could speak any further, he stopped when the waiter came with the trays of their dinner and placed them down.

One was carrying a plate of a fried T-bone steak with a few sliced carrots including a bottle of A1 Sauce reserved for Bugs, and a plate with the malibu chicken sandwich placed on it with fries and chopped carrots on the sides which is reserved for Lola.

Smiling in satisfaction, Bugs rubbed his hands together, smelling the tasty food before speaking.

"Mmm. Dat looks like a hell of a steak." Bugs said with a smile

Lola nodded in agreement.

"Same here."

"Beverages, sir?" The waiter asked

With smiles on their faces, Bugs and Lola gazed each other before looking up at the waiter.

"You have any carrot juices?" They both asked, unisonly

* * *

It's been over a couple of minutes since their dinner and Bugs and Lola were both keeping few distances from each other as they waltzed the side walk into the outside night. 

But Bugs was the main individual to keep his distances from her. Lola seems to be befuddled by this sort of reaction, but passed it off as a mere disinterest.

Bugs, however, has every reason to keep his distances. For starters, during their early night dinner, he kept experiencing the same unusual feeling that he felt back in Starbucks. Shyness was rationale, but once again he was in denial of it. And if he did have these unusual feelings for a woman, he had to shake it off of his thoughts at this moment.

Lola did ask what was wrong, but he gave her the excuse that nothing was wrong. She was unconvinced by the response, but she once again shook it off as a disinterest.

After a while, they would resume their meals and issue small talks towards each other.

And that's exactly the same thing they are doing on their walk on the paved sidewalk.

"Do you have a car?" Lola asked as she looked to Bugs

Bugs returned the gaze and slightly shook his head.

"No, why?"

"Just curious." She said before gazing forward.

But Bugs kept his gaze to her due to sudden interest.

"Why? Because you came by car and I didn't?"

Lola chuckled a bit and shook her head.

"I didn't say that. I came by in the same transportable vehicle that, assumingly, you rode in."

Bugs nodded and gazed forward.

"Oh. Say, what time is it?" He asked

Lola reached in her pocket and looked at her pager for the recommended time.

"It's...6:45pm." She confirmed before looking to Bugs. "Got someplace to be?"

Bugs met her gaze and spoke.

"No, I'm just curious, dat's all."

Lola snickered inwardly as they both resumed their walk. After a while, they turned to a short alleyway where two sets of dumpsters were placed by neighboring buildings.

They also took note of two thugs, who appeared to be hyenas in raggedy attires and menacing looks on their faces, approaching towards them.

They halted their stop in front of the two thugs.

Bugs had time to observe both thugs before he spoke.

"What's up?"

Instantly, the first thug pulled out a switchblade and extended the object pressing it against Bugs' neck. The mercenary grew unflinching as he felt the cold object pressed against his neck.

Before Lola could utter a word, her attention was drawn back to the second thug, who followed suit with his switchblade pressed against her neck.

"Alright, motherfucker. Here's how it works: _Your money_..."

The first thug halted his speech and gazed to the second thug. As if on cue, the second thug spoke.

"..._Or your wife_." The second thug finished

Both Bugs and Lola were in confusion before speaking.

"We're not married!" They both said

The first thug curled up a sinister smirk and spoke.

"Oh, good. It'll make my job a hell of a lot easier. So let me re-phase. _Your money_..."

"..._Or you life_." The second thug finished without even a glance from his partner.

From his confusion, Bugs chuckled in his calm state before the first thug spoke.

"What's so funny?" He asked

Lola gazed him in wonders to that question herself while the second thug kept her at bay.

Bugs seized his chuckles and spoke.

"Doc, you can't kill me."

"Yeah? Why not?" The first thug asked

"Yeah, why not?" The second thug followed

Twitching his whiskers a bit, Bugs spoke in a sinister tone of voice.

"You obviously don't know me dat well."

And as quick as lightning could strike, Bugs used his right hand to grip the thug's upper wrist. The thug painfully yelped and loosened his grip on the knife. While the blade clatters to the ground, the grey mercenary threw a cheap shot straight to the vital point of the thug's throat. The action alone literally caused the thug to gag on his own saliva from the impact.

While that was happening, Bugs grabbed the left arm with both hands and flipped him over to the ground on his back.

The second thug watched in horror but grits his teeth to keep his intimidation in check before glaring Lola.

"Say goodnight, doll."

Then, Lola glared the second thug straight in the eyes due to that last comment and spoke.

"Okay."

Before the second thug could strike in for the kill, Lola quickly grabbed the thug's right arm with her right, jabbed his ribs with her free left hand before using that same hand to issue a snap to his arm. Not only does the bone-crushing snap puts the arm in position of half a triangle, but it got the thug screaming in utter pain from it.

The thug's arm grew limb, which caused the switchblade to fall to the ground from his hand.

Lola finished the job by slamming an extended left arm to the thug's midsection, causing him to bend over a bit. She grabbed the back of the thug's neck, after releasing his broken arm, and whispered to his ears while he pants from the pain.

"Goodnight. And watch who you're calling, '_Doll_.'"

Then, she shoved him to the ground where he resumes to yelp from the pain in his arm.

Looking to where Bugs was, she approached his position.

Bugs was standing next to the first thug, who was apparently still gagging after the cheap shot attack from the grey mercenary.

When Lola got to his position, he gazed from the thug to her. But before Bugs said a word, he gazed over to where the second thug was and took note of him wailing in pain from his broken arm. In surprise, he nodded his head to the anticipation that she can defend herself.

_'Huh. She must've been working hard or somethin'_.' He thought

Then, his gaze went back to her as he loosened his look of surprise.

"You okay?" He asked

Lola nodded.

"Yeah. You?"

Bugs nodded.

"I'm fine." He said while Lola looked down at the first gagging thug. "Let's get outta here."

Bugs was gonna walk away, but Lola held him back.

"Wait. What about him?"

Bugs gazed the thug with sudden anticipation.

"Oh, I forgot all about him."

With a hard foot stomp to the thug's sternum, the criminal was coughing and breathing from the blow as Lola gazed Bugs in surprise.

Bugs took note of it.

"What?"

"That was some cheap shot you pulled earlier."

Bugs smiled.

"Oh. Thanks, I think. Same goes for you too."

As Lola smiled, her pager went off. Swearing quietly to herself, she reached in and took out her pager to see who it was. When she got a glimpse of the number, she grew shocked before placing the pager back in her pocket.

Bugs took note of this.

"What is it?"

"I gotta go. Works calling me." She said in a tone of desperation

Before Lola could depart, Bugs halted her back and started stammering from the sudden leave.

"Wh-Wha-Now? I thou-I thought you already went to work."

"I did, but..." She trailed off and sighed deeply before speaking. "Oh, man. I guess I should've told you this sooner at the dinner. I-I work a night job."

"A night job?"

"Yeah. Listen, I can't explain right now. I-I really have to go."

But before she could leave, Bugs held her back again, which only got her into frustration.

"Well, can-can ya at least tell me what time it is?"

"It's five minutes after seven! Now can I please go?" She briefly shouted

Bugs grew quiet with a frown on his face as Lola took note of it and sighed deeply.

"Look, I'm sorry for yelling, but..."

"I know, I know. You got work." Then, he went into thought and anticipated something. "Come to think of it, I got some place to be also. So, I'll, uh, I'll see ya around."

Lola nodded.

"Okay. See ya."

Both rabbits departed separately from the alleyway.

From the left side, Bugs called for a cab, which instantly pulled into the curve. Approaching the cab, he opened the back door and got inside, closing the door behind him afterward.

Inside the cab, after verifying the location of his place of residence, the cab drove into the less crowded streets.

Bugs slammed his hand on the seat in anger. Not because of the night job, which is only twenty minutes away from schedule, but the emotional desperation he once again felt in front of Lola when she was about to leave.

Again, he denies having feelings for her, but every inch of desperation prevents him from controlling his emotions. Literally shaking the thought off at the moment, he sighed deeply and leaned back into his seat while the cab drives him to his home of residence.

* * *

Ten minutes later inside of a building not far from downtown, Drug Trafficker Russell Styles, who appears as a tall red coyote wearing a decent tux suit, white shirt, and shoes, was seating at his desk with two to five briefcases filled with kilos after kilos of heavy cocaine.

He started grinning at the thought that he would make a bundle of cash from the loads of cocaine that he's selling. He seems to wonder exactly how much that he would be given due to the amount he sells. He can only hope that he would get paid a lot more than his last sell.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when the door opened.

Russell looked over to the door and saw one of his henchmens, who appears as a hyena in a tux suit, entering the room.

"Sir, the buyer's are here." He confirmed

Russell nodded.

"Good, send them in here in about fifteen minutes." He ordered

"Yes, sir."

As the henchmen left, closing the door behind him, Russell gazed back to the briefcases and grinned in satisfaction.

* * *

Uptop a nearby building's rooftop near the edge on the darkness of the night, Bugs Bunny was standing there watching his grinning target. Positioned by his right leg is a briefcase that withheld his weapon for the job.

He was ten minutes early and that was a good thing for him because before he got there, he called his boss to confirm him about the time of dispatchment. When he got his confirmation, he arrived at the building's rooftop at the right, yet early time.

Checking the watch on his wrist, he saw that it was now 7:19pm. Just eleven minutes from now.

Sighing deeply, he got into thoughts about his night with Lola. With his emotion aside, he became a bit suspicious about what transpired at the alleyway with her going off on a night job.

Not that it was any of his business, but he sometimes wonder if running errands was both a day and night job.

Shaking the thought off for a while, he kneeled down and started opening the briefcase. Inside was his weapon of choice, a disassembled standard sniper rifle.

Piece by piece, he started to assemble the entire rifle until every piece of it was placed in the right order. After he was done, he, after placing his mask on, positioned himself at the rifle and took close aim at his target while looking through a telescope.

From his telescope view, he saw the lone drug trafficker inside the room patiently awaiting the buyers' arrival.

Bugs took a brief moment to look from the telescope to his watch to find that it was a minute before dispatchment.

Quickly, he resumed looking through the telescope. From his view, he saw single ticking clock a few feets behind Russell. And from what Bugs could tell, it was fifteen seconds ticking away before he could pull the trigger.

Silently, after five seconds, he started counting down the numbers.

"Ten...Nine...Eight...Seven...Six..."

As he continued the silent countdown, his finger firmed on the trigger.

"Four...Three...Two...One."

He was about to pull the trigger, but stopped at a sudden sight he saw, which surprised him.

From his telescope view, he saw Russell's head snap to the right, then laid lifelessly on the desk while an amount of blood leaked from the side of his head.

Bugs removed his sight from the telescope with the same surprised look on his face.

"What da...?"

He stopped when he anticipated the blood coming from the left side of his head. As he gazed to the left, he saw, from a far distance, a mysterious silhouette standing uptop a rooftop wielding a sniper rifle in hand.

However, before Bugs could come to terms with this mysterious entity, he heard voices from the inside of the building.

As he looked through the telescope, he saw that the human buyers were there in shock of the scene while the henchmen of coyotes were in a panic by the condition of their boss.

"Hey, there he is! There's the shooter!" A voice shouted

Bugs looked from his telescope and looked down from the rooftop to find two to seven other henchmens in tux business suits that spotted him from below.

"Let's get 'em! Come on!" The henchmen ordered

Bugs grimaced and spoke.

"Damn."

As the three henchmens quickly went inside the building on their way to the rooftop, Bugs quickly disassembled the weapon and placed it back in the briefcase.

As soon as he was done, he picked up the case and started to head out the place. But he didn't go out the rooftop's door since they were on their way up. So, he went over to the right side of the rooftop near a long pipeline and slid down it.

After that happened, three henchmens burst through the rooftop's door and started looking frantically for the shooter, but came up with nothing.

Grunting in frustration, the first henchmen spoke.

"Where is he?"

"I don't see 'em!" The second henchmen said

"Well, look for him! Look everywhere!"

The henchmens started scattering all over the rooftop for the perpetrator.

When the third henchmen started searching on the right side of the rooftop, he suddenly heard noises coming from where the pipeline is.

Running to that area, the henchmen looked from the edge to find the masked perpetrator on the ground in the alley next to the pipeline.

Down by the pipe in the alley, Bugs heard a shout from a henchman on the roof. Looking up, he saw that the other two henchmens has spotted him and took aim from their handguns.

Quickly, Bugs made a run for it in the left direction simultaneously a couple of bullets has rained onto the spot where he was just positioned on.

Momentarily, the three henchmens slid down the pipeline while five more henchmens came running from the other side of the alleyway to aid their comrades.

The first half of the henchmens has made it to the other side of the alley shortly before the second half did only to discover that the mysterious shooter is nowhere to be found.

Gritting his teeth, the first henchmen stomped his foot in anger.

"Shit!" He shouted

Suddenly, distant sirens were heard as the henchmens turned around to find police cars heading towards the area.

"Cops. Let's get outta here. Come on!" He commanded

All eight henchmens went back and out into the alleyway only to stop when a couple of police officers have apprehended them. As they yelled commands, the henchmens each raised their hands defenselessly while half of the officers has disarmed and handcuffed them.

While this was going on, the whole thing was being under the watchful eyes of the grey mercenary Bugs Bunny, who appears to be hidden in a briefly far-off alleyway.

Slowly gazing away from the site and completely braced back against the concrete wall, he got into thought of what just transpired moments ago.

His intention wasn't to take on the henchmens since it wasn't his job for that. But the dispatchment of Russell Styles was his job. His last job. Ten seconds was all he had to end it from there. Ten seconds and it was over for him. But a single bullet to that individual's head, not of his own, suddenly shattered it.

Bugs kept his gaze down into thought while the few police cars, which carried the arrested henchmens, have passed the alley where he was posted.

All the while, Bugs was under the suspicion that something was up at the moment. But whatever it is, he tends to find out as he started departing the alleyway, carrying his briefcase along.


	4. Stanley and Winifred

Chapter Four: **Stanley and Winifred**

* * *

It became quiet inside the large office and Javier was alone on his desk, puffing on a stogie cigar. 

All the while, he was waiting patiently for one of his associates to return with the report on the dispatchment while he passed the time puffing on the cigar.

As he blew smoke from his mouth, the double door opened and one of his associates, who appear as a panther in a trench suit, approached towards his desk while the double door closed on its own.

Javier sat up in his seat and took the cigar from his mouth before placing it on the ashtray. Afterwards, he crossed his hands together and waited in silence for the report.

The associate halted his approach in front of the desk before speaking.

"Sir, a report just came onto the news. The dispatchment is done."

Javier issued a smile and stayed silence.

* * *

It was only a few hours later since Bugs Bunny entered his apartment building. As he sat comfortably on the couch, his thoughts were racing with questions pertaining to what happened hours ago. 

But each question became unanswered at this point.

Sighing deeply, he reached for his cordless phone on the side of the couch and started dialing the recommended number.

* * *

In an office, Javier was placing some new photographs, which he received moments ago from one of his associates, into his drawer. 

Suddenly, the phone ranged before he answered it.

"Yes."

* * *

Bugs hesitated for a second before speaking. 

"It's me."

"_Ah, Mr. Bugs Bunny, so nice of you to call. I hear that dispatchment has gone along as planned._"

Again, Bugs grew hesitant to respond. At first, he grew confused on how he knew of the dispatchment, but then anticipated that it was possibly on the news. That predicament got him into a brief train of thought. He could lie and tell him that the dispatch went well in order to get off the job and retire, but his conscience told him otherwise.

Exhaling a bit, he spoke.

"No. It didn't. I was, um...compromised."

* * *

Javier grimaced a bit in anger, but subdued the expression due to a sudden anticipation before speaking. 

"Really?"

* * *

Bugs nodded and spoke. 

"Yeah, I was going for da shot, but, uh..." He stopped and rubbed his forehead a bit with his other hand before resuming. "...da guy was dead before I could pull it."

After two seconds of silence, Javier spoke from the phone.

"_Could he have been shot from the inside?_"

Shaking his head, Bugs spoke.

"No. I saw somebody on a far rooftop before I was compromised. So it was an outside job."

Bugs could hear Javier release a deep sigh from his breath before his boss spoke.

"_Well, since you were compromised, I cannot allow the retirement._"

Closing his eyes in disappointment, Bugs sighed deeply before Javier spoke.

"_Look, I know you are upset. But be lucky that you are not identified by the police._"

Bugs slightly nodded.

"Yeah, I know."

"_Compromising situations like this are considered as a loose shred to our organization. But in your case, I will give you the benefit of a doubt, but you should know that each time you are compromised; your retirement will be voided. You will receive your next objective tomorrow afternoon. And if you spot the unknown assailant, deal with it._"

Bugs nodded.

"Undastood."

As the other line clicks to a dial tone, Bugs hung up the phone and laid his head back on the couch in hopes to fall into a deep sleep.

* * *

In the same hour, the Los Angeles Police Department was open and several police cars were either parked separately in the parking lot or parked outside the department.

* * *

It was a very large area inside the 23rd precinct building for many police officers. Among the police unit was Officer Stanley Anderson, who's approaching towards the captain's office. 

In his early thirties, at possibly 31 years of age, he appears as a brown rabbit, with crooked-looking brown ears with a brass of hair between them and an inch long bucktooth between his teeth. His brown jacket and gray pants has covered the rest of his feature, but not enough for his brown tail. He also wore a pair of black shoes, shades to hide his eyes, and wore a necklace around his neck that withheld his badge.

As he entered the office, Captain Thomas Bernard looked up from his work to the officer.

The captain appears as a gray coyote in his early forties, at 42 years of age, wearing his casual police uniform with a badge pinned on the right side of his coat. He was without the hat since it was hung up on a single clothing nail.

Stanley halted in front of Thomas' desk before speaking.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" He asked

Thomas nodded and gestures his hand to a chair before speaking.

"Sit."

Stanley pulled out a chair from the front of the captain's desk and sat down while Thomas folded his hands up onto the desk.

"A few hours ago, as you may know, a murder has taken place."

With his left hand, Thomas slid a photographed document forward as Stanley, who took his shades off to reveal his neon green eyes, inspects it.

"The victim: _Russell Styles, Drug Trafficker._"

Stanley looked from the document to Thomas in question.

Thomas took notice of it before Stanley spoke.

"How did it happen? I mean, did they get an autopsy report?"

Thomas slightly nodded.

"Yeah. A single bullet wound to the side cranium."

"Suicide?" He assumed.

Thomas shook his head.

"Doubtful. The DNA test on the bullet indicates his signature, but that was only possible because of his blood stained on it. This is why I'm sending you and your partner to the crime scene and investigate."

Stanley's expression was in surprise upon that statement before speaking.

"I'm sorry. Partner?"

Thomas nodded.

"Yeah."

Stanley's expression suddenly became one of sadness as Thomas took note of it with concern.

"Sir, with-with all due respect, I'm not--" He started before Thomas cuts him short.

"Look, Stanley, I know it's been only a year since your last partner's death in the line of duty and I'm truly sorry about that. But, son, you got to let go of the past for a while, okay? It's not easy being a cop, but sometimes you gotta make the most of it. You hear me?"

Sighing silently, Stanley nodded in response and smiled.

"Yeah."

Thomas smiled before quickly noticing a soft chuckle coming from Stanley's mouth.

"What's funny?"

Stanley halted his soft chuckle and spoke.

"You remind me of my father, softening me up like that, you know?"

Thomas issued an inward chuckle before speaking.

"Complimentary. All right, off you go."

Stanley nodded before getting up and leaving the office.

* * *

A couples of minutes later, Stanley, who has his shades on, was walking in the parking lot towards his standard police cruiser. 

Walking beside him was his recommended partner... a female cop named Winifred Beal.

In her late twenties, at possibly 29 years of age, she appears as a raccoon with pinkish fur, bushy hair between her ears, which gives a devious wild look to her feature, and beautiful blue eyes.

Winifred was only a few lengths from his heights as she wore her standard police uniform. And, despite herself wearing pants, she has her tail sticking out from it that shows a coloration of pink, but shows a dark complexity of red throughout.

When Stanley had a first look at her back in the department, he was in awe of her sensual beauty. But aside from that, especially when he looked at her beautiful feminine legs and not only because she was going to be his partner, which became a big shock to him, he was also a bit surprised at how she looks.

In his mind, he knows what a raccoon looks like. But never has he seen one that's a shade of pink before. To this indication, he figures it was probably a birth defect. He would ask her to be sure, but he decided to stay quiet for a while without trying to strain on an unknown personal issue that he's been secretly dealing with.

As they got to the car, they both opened the doors on opposite sides and entered the vehicle with Stanley in front and Winifred in passengers.

As they each closed the doors after entrance, Stanley sat there in silence for a while as Winifred took notice with concern.

"You okay?" She asked

Silence, Stanley sighed a bit and spoke.

"Yeah, I, um...I'm okay."

In silence, Winifred issued a slight smile, but kept her concern intact.

Straightening himself up a bit in his seat, Stanley fastened his seat belts with Winifred following suit.

Afterwards, Stanley placed his key in the ignition and started the engine.

As the engines started, he pulled the car from its parking area and drove out of the lot.

* * *

Another few minutes later inside the cruiser, the two officers were in silence during the whole ride and Stanley couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he should speak with her. 

But he questioned himself on that matter, yet it grew unanswered.

To this indication he could only assume that it was a measure of curiosity.

Swallowing a bit of saliva, he sighed silently and spoke.

"So, um...Winifred, right?"

Winifred looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah."

Stanley took a slight look at her before gazing the road again.

He always hated long-term names, due to the fact that it has to be repeated from time to time, yet sometimes it became hard to say. Sighing deeply, he spoke.

"Is there a short name for that?" He asked

In silence, Winifred nodded and spoke.

"Yeah."

Then, she looked away from him, suddenly and softly tensing her face in anger before speaking.

"Wendy. God, I hate that name."

With his eyes on the road, Stanley grew confused, but Winifred didn't seem to notice due to his shades.

"Why?"

Sighing deeply, Winifred, with her eyes closed, laid her head back on the seat and spoke in a bit of frustration.

"I just don't like the name, that's all."

Stanley took note of the tension in her voice and spoke.

"Oh. So, uh..." He cleared his throat and resumed. "So, Wh-what do I call you?"

Slowly opening her eyes, Winifred, after taking note of the tone in his voice, sighed a bit and spoke.

"Wenny."

Nodding with his eyes still on the road, Stanley spoke.

"Wenny? As in, uh..." He started before she intervened.

"No."

He took a moment to look at her, and then back at the road before nodding comprehensively.

Winifred, on the other hand, wanted to apologize. However, she was a bit afraid to at the moment, which is why she kept her silence.

* * *

The cruiser arrived at the building complex about ten minutes later and Stanley and Winifred were already inside.

* * *

Throughout the minutes, they separately inspected the room where the incident took place, literally conversing on the matter. 

"So, what are we looking for?" Winifred asked

Stanley heard her, but grew silence as he started trailing the floor. After a while, he answered.

"Leads."

Silence in response, Winifred resumed her search while Stanley followed suit.

Suddenly, Stanley caught sight of something on the floor. Kneeling down, he picked up a tiny piece of glass away from a few others.

Momentarily surprised, Stanley looked up from the tiny glass to the left side window.

Slowly, he stood up and started to approach towards the window before Winifred spoke.

"Well, aside from the blood stain that was on the table and the outline of the victim, I can't seem to find anything. How about--"

Winifred stopped short as she looked over to Stanley's position, only to find him approaching towards the left side window in his previous state.

In confusion, she approached towards his position. As soon as she got there, she spoke.

"Stanley, what is it?"

Stanley grew unresponsive as he was staring at a small cracked hole in the window. Then, he gazed over to the table where the blood stains and the outline was before gazing back at the window in anticipation.

Winifred took notice and spoke.

"Stanley, what's--"

"The gunshot came from here and straight to the victim."

"So, what does that means?"

Exhaling a bit, he spoke.

"I don't know. Either our suspect has climbed this building and shot the guy once..." He stopped and gazed through the window up to the nearby rooftop across the area. "...or our suspect has taken him out from the rooftop."

Silence a bit, Winifred spoke.

"So, what, you think this is some kind of hit or something?"

Silence, Stanley shook his head and answered

"I don't know. But even if we do know, we still need proof on who took him out and where to find 'em."

Gazing away from him, she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. So, what now?"

"Right now..." He showed the tiny glass in his hand to Winifred and resumed. "...bag this. We need this in the evidence's room. And I wanna check our dead body."

Winifred took the glass in her grasp before she and Stanley started out the place.

* * *

As soon as they got back in the car, Winifred spoke. 

"Wait a minute. Check the body? They already did the--"

"Yeah, I know that. But I want to check the bullet."

Winifred shook her head.

"DNA test shows that it was the victim's blood."

Sighing a bit in frustration, Stanley spoke while Winifred listened.

"Yeah, I know that. But it doesn't make a lick of sense. I mean, the guy was shot from the left window to the left cranium. But the DNA only trails to him because of the blood work. Now I don't buy that. Somebody was on that rooftop and took him out. Who? I don't know. But I'm gonna find out."

Winifred studied the determined look on his face, yet she grew a bit suspicious on why Stanley would want to find the suspect so much.

Literally shaking the thought off, she nodded comprehensively.

Gazing forward, Stanley started the engines before the car drove away from the building.

* * *

The room was cloaked in darkness, but some could tell that it was a clean, decorated bedroom. 

Suddenly, the far window opened up and a mysterious silhouette has entered the place. Despite the darkness in the room, the figure knew its way pretty well.

Eventually, after closing the window, the silhouette made its way to a chair and sat down in front of a laptop.

As the silhouette turned the laptop on, a mainframe screen appeared.

On the screen, it read, 'Enter Password.'

The silhouette entered its password and pressed 'Enter' on the keyboard. Then, the screen was replaced with a white screen where a cursor was blinking on and off.

Automatically, a texted message was typed on the screen.

'Is the dispatchment done?' A monotone voice asked from the speaker.

The silhouette typed 'Yes' on the keyboard and pressed 'Enter.' As the message was answered, another one came.

'Good. You will receive your next objective tomorrow afternoon.'

The silhouette nodded and typed its message onto the keyboard before pressing 'Enter.'

'Understood.'

After the message was sent, the laptop was automatically shut down and the room was left in darkness again.

* * *


	5. The Next Morning

Chapter Five: **The Next Morning  
**

* * *

It was only a couple of minutes later leading to the end of the hour as Stanley and Winifred, who moments ago have already turned their evidence in, made their entrance into the cold confines of the morgue room.

The morgue was a partially huge area where morgue experts store recently dead bodies into storage of freezers.

Winifred partially shivered from the cold aroma of the place, briefly chattering her teeth in the process as Stanley noticed, then gaze forward and spoke.

"Even with the coat on, you're cold?"

"Shouldn't you be? This is a morgue."

"Can I help you two?"

Approaching them was 31-year-old morgue examiner Douglas Reeves. He appears as a bald white duck with an orange sharp bill of a beak, green neon eyes, and wore contact lens.

He wore a long white trench coat that hides the rest of his clothing. He also had a name tag pinned to his coat and wore a pair of delicate black shoes that fits his webbed feets.

Douglas halted his approach in front of the two officers before Stanley spoke.

"Yes, you can." He said before flashing his badge. "I'm Officer Stanley Anderson of 25th precinct Los Angeles Police Department."

Douglas nodded comprehensively as Stanley gestured to Winifred and resumed.

"My partner, Winifred Beal."

Winifred nodded in greetings.

"How do you do?"

Douglas returned the gesture and spoke.

"Likewise. So, what can I do for you officers?"

As Stanley explained to Douglas on the situation of their presence, he nodded in response before leading them to their designated area.

Surgical items were placed on a flat, yet cold steel table. Among the items was a steel bowl that with-held a few items that were removed from dead corpses.

Douglas was placing his white gloves on while Winifred started briefly shivering from the coldness of the room.

Stanley wanted to comfort her, but Winifred prevented that attempt in a way of telling him that she was fine.

Stanley took acceptation to that and left the matter alone for a while.

As Douglas was finished placing on his gloves, he reached in the bowl and took out a single caliber bullet where the blood stain was briefly seen.

While Stanley did a close-up analysis on the item, Douglas spoke.

"Would you mind telling me what this is about, sir?"

Silence a bit with his attention still on the bullet, Stanley spoke.

"Already told you. Just looking for clues pertaining to tonight's killing."

Douglas nodded.

"Oh."

"And from the looks of this bullet, it appears to be sniper."

Winifred managed to contain herself from shivering before gazing at Stanley with a confused look on her face.

"Sniper?"

Stanley nodded.

"Yeah. Douglas, did our people happen to confiscate any weapons that were presence in that building the night of the murder?"

Douglas nodded.

"Yeah. They took those in as evidences."

Stanley nodded.

"Good." He said before beckoning to Winifred. "Let's go."

Stanley and Winifred retraced their steps and made their way out of the place.

* * *

The next hour, Stanley and Winifred stood before Captain Bernard's desk as he gazed them sternly before speaking. 

"What do we have?"

"Well, upon our investigation, we've came across a small crack hole on the left side window. To this indication, we came to the conclusion that the victim was either shot up close or up far."

Shaking his head in confusion, Thomas spoke.

"Up far? Meaning...?"

"The rooftop, sir." Winifred replied before Stanley resumed

"But we weren't sure if this was a hit or a gang-related killing. So we made a stop at the morgue to..." He started to say before Thomas interrupted.

"Wait, Wait. Y-You went to the morgue even though we already had an autopsy report?"

"Yes, sir. I'm well aware of the report, but I'm not finished. See, I had a little look at the bullet and from what I can tell, it appears to be one that could fit into a sniper rifle."

"How is that possible? They confiscated every weapon from that building as substantial evidences."

"Yes, sir. Baring that in mind, we made a stop at the evidences room for a routine check a couple of minutes ago."

"And..."

"There were no records of a sniper rifle inside."

Grimacing a bit, Thomas threw his gaze from them with a deep sigh escaping his breath.

Stanley noticed and nodded.

"Apparently, you were right, sir. It wasn't suicidal."

Thomas nodded before Winifred spoke.

"So what do we do?"

"Nothing for now." He said before returning his gaze to the two officers. "It's late, so you two should go home and get some rest. We'll continue tomorrow."

Stanley and Winifred nodded comprehensively.

"Yes, sir." They said in unison

Both officers made their way out of the office as Thomas watched their departure.

* * *

The next morning, as the sun shone in the skies over the horizon, Bugs Bunny, who wore a trench coat to hide the rest of his features, was waltzing the concrete sidewalk heading towards 9th Street. 

During his walk, he was going into thoughts of what's been transpiring over the last hours yesterday. But he mostly thought about what his boss has said.

He thought he could go to sleep in hopes to get his mind off the incident, but apparently, he couldn't. To his knowledge, that reason being was because he had the opportunity presented to him, and then it was suddenly and immediately slipped away at a moment's notice.

The question on Bugs' mind was this: _How did the mysterious assailant knew where the target was?_

He didn't know the answer to that himself, but he was willing to find out soon enough.

Instantly, his thoughts trailed off as he shot a glance to the left side, momentarily halting himself from advancing.

Across the streets passed the roaring traffic of cars, he caught sight of Lola waltzing the sidewalk in the opposite direction.

He thought about going over there to her, but he grew hesitant.

Bugs grew surprised by that kind of reaction and before he could come to terms with it, a hand grasped his left shoulder.

In startled reaction to this, Bugs used his left hand and shoved the unknown silhouette against the concrete wall.

The figure didn't get a chance to speak and when Bugs had a good look at the person, he saw that it was Daffy Duck, who wore a designed blue shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes to fit his webbed feets.

In silence, Daffy grew surprised by this reaction as Bugs looked back in the direction he was staring towards only to find that Lola was gone from his sight.

Grimacing in frustration, Bugs forcefully relinquished his grasp from the designed T-shirt before glaring at Daffy and speaking.

"Goddamn it, Daffy. Are you crazy? You scared me half to death!"

"Jeez. Sorry." He said before slowly waltzing from the wall.

Afterwards, he dusted himself off and resumed.

"Obviously, I caught you at a bad time."

Silence, Bugs, with his gaze from him, inhaled and deeply exhaled in a measure of calm before speaking.

"Sorry, Daff."

Daffy nodded.

"It's okay."

"What are you doing out here?"

"I was heading over to your place. We were supposed to meet at Subway's right off of 10th Street."

Silence a bit, Bugs nodded slightly in response as Daffy noticed and resumed.

"You, uh...you want to talk about this little reflex reaction of yours that could send you in a heap of frustration?"

With his gaze still away from the black duck, Bugs sighed a bit and spoke.

"Actually, I do. But not here."

Daffy has gotten the idea and nodded in response before he and Bugs started walking along the sidewalk towards their designated area.

* * *

Bugs and Daffy were inside the Subway restaurant moments later. 

They have already finished their sandwiches and are now enjoying their drinks while other customers presence in the place are doing the same, literally ignoring their presence.

After swallowing his drink, Daffy started on the conversation.

"So, uh...I heard on the news that a potential murder has taken place."

Nodding slightly, Bugs spoke.

"Yeah, I know."

"Does that mean you're out?"

Silence a bit and with a brief frown on his face, Bugs lowered his gaze from Daffy's view before speaking.

"No."

With a surprised expression casted on his face, Daffy spoke.

"Why? What happened?"

"I don't know. I..." He trailed off and sighed a bit.

Daffy noticed and spoke.

"Bugs, what happened?"

Rubbing his forehead a bit, Bugs spoke.

"I don't-I don't know. One minute, I had da guy in my line of sight and the next..." He sighed again before resuming. "...he was dead."

Before Daffy could comment on the issue, Bugs spoke.

"But da weirdest part was..."

Removing his hand from his forehead, Bugs sent his gaze to Daffy and resumed.

"...I didn't take da shot."

With the same expression still intact on his face, Daffy spoke.

"What? Bugs, that dispatchment could've been your ticket off this damn job."

"I know dat, Daffy. But since I was compromised, my retirement is null and void."

Daffy spoke after a bit of silence.

"Well, wh-who fired that shot?"

Bugs shook his head and spoke.

"I don't know. You know, I don't know if my boss is setting me up or, uh, if dere's a new player in da field. But whoeva 'dis person is, I'm gonna find out during my next assignment."

Daffy loosened the expression on his face and nodded.

"Good to hear your fiery mood swing."

Bugs managed a slight smile to his face before Daffy resumed.

"Speaking of mood swing, you wanna tell me what's with the reflexive reaction out on the sidewalk earlier on."

Bugs lost the smile before speaking.

"It's nothin'. Just thought I saw someone."

Daffy grew unconvinced by the response as Bugs noticed.

"What?"

"Bugs, the whole minute that I was there, even when we were talking, you were staring across the street like a drone."

Bugs grimaced in annoyance, but calmed down before Daffy spoke.

"The truth, please."

Silence, Bugs sighed deeply and spoke.

"I saw Lola."

Daffy nodded.

"Ah, hit the nail on the wall."

Bugs chuckled inwardly before Daffy spoke.

"So, uh...why didn't you cross the streets to her?"

"I was until you grasp my shoulder."

Daffy snickered inwardly and spoke.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. Listen, I'm gonna have to go. I'm on call for my next assignment."

Daffy nodded comprehensively.

"Okay. Good luck. And make sure this is your last one."

Chuckling in response, Bugs got up from his seat, took his drink, and started out the restaurant.

* * *

_Twenty-Five Minutes Later..._

The Interrogation Room was all-white and quiet inside and it only occupied a rectangular table and two chairs opposite from each other.

Damian Vanders, one of the late Russell Styles henchmen, was seated on the left with his wrists cuffed behind the chair to prevent any means of escape.

Damian was clueless as to why he was in the room, but was reaching an amount of boredom from the situation.

But despite all that, he remains quiet.

* * *

Watching him from a hidden room through an impenetrable glass was Officers Stanley Anderson and Winifred Beals. 

The hyena criminal seems to be unaware of their watchful stares due to the camouflage of the glass that prevents him from seeing anyone behind the window.

Stanley, who momentarily had his arms crossed during his watch, sighed deeply in complete thought pertaining to the investigation.

Winifred took note of it, and then threw her attention back to the Interrogation Room before speaking.

"What are you thinkin' about?"

Silence a bit, he sighed and spoke.

"Lots of things. I mean, we investigated from top to bottom and we ended up with no records on a sniper rifle, which is a choice of weapon for a murder. Yet..." He halted and gestured to the criminal inside the white room. "...they bring him along. Why? Because he might know something about our mysterious killer. I mean, for all we know, he might've pulled the trigger himself."

Winifred nodded.

"Yeah, but our guys searched every one of those criminals that were at the scene. No weapon of that kind matches their signatures."

Silence, Stanley nodded.

"Yeah. But he might know something about our killer. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been seen outside to easily get caught by us."

Winifred smirked a bit and spoke.

"You think he'll talk?"

Stanley glanced to Winifred, and then threw his gaze to the criminal in the room before nodding.

"Yeah. He'll talk."

With that being said, he exited the watch room while Winifred stayed behind.

* * *

The criminal's attention diverted to the door at the sound of clicking. 

As the door opened, he saw Officer Anderson entering the room. The officer droned his eyes onto the criminal while closing the door behind him.

As Damian scoffed with dismay of his presence, Stanley approached the table before the criminal spoke.

"Listen, before you start the twenty questions here, can you at least take these cuffs off?"

Pulling the only available seat out, Stanley sat down, scooted his seat forward, laced his fingers together on the table and spoke sternly to the criminal.

"The cuff stays."

Damian grimaced with disappointment before Stanley resumed.

"You know, Damian, I've seen lots of homicides in my years on the force. But that is nothing in comparison to what has transpired last night."

Damian could almost feel the amount of boredom growing into his vein while Stanley continued.

"And since we're on the subject of last night, let's recap. During our investigation, I've noticed a few things. One of them is a hole on the left side window that indicated a gunshot coming from that side directly to the victim's cranial skull. That evidence being said, a question came to mind. _Who shot Russell Styles?_"

Stanley grew silence while taking note of the glare in the criminal's eyes in his direction before he resumed with the stern look intact.

"Was it you?"

"No, it fucking wasn't!" He immediately said

Briefly surprised by the sudden answer, Stanley spoke.

"Wow. A quick answer. To that indication, it almost gives me the impression that you have something to hide."

"I'm tellin' you, it wasn't me!"

Silence, Stanley narrowed his eyes to study his gaze before speaking.

"No. Of course it wasn't. Because you wouldn't have the nut sacks to shoot him from a distant window, let alone behind his back. You seemed loyal to a son of a bitch like him which brings me back to the reason why we're here."

He leaned forward a bit and resumed.

"Do you know of anyone who would want to kill Russell Styles?"

Silence, Damian slightly shook his head before Stanley resumed.

"Hmm? No? Did he have any enemies?"

"I--I don't--" He started, then w as slightly caught off-guard when Stanley interrupted

"Maybe _somebody_ had to shoot him because he wouldn't cut that particular _somebody_ into his drug sells, was that it?"

"I--I don't know!" He said, briefly growing nervous of the situation.

Stanley took note of it and decided to raise his interrogative measures a bit.

"Oh, come on, Damian!" Stanley said with his voice a bit rose with a hint of frustration. "I got a goddamn homicide here! _A murder to be exact!_ We have to scrap from top to bottom on this case that came down to a bullet registered to a sniper rifle. One weapon of which does not fit well with your friends _or_ your trigger happy hands. That certain indication leads me to believe that someone else took a shot at Russell Styles. Question is: _Who?_ I don't have a fuckin' clue!"

Then, he gestured his finger in the criminal's direction, while Damian grew slightly shocked from the implication, and resumed.

"But you do. Because that arrest was way too easy to sweep off in the middle of an alleyway. You guys weren't waiting to get caught, because if you did, you wouldn't have sprinted. This, however, leads me back to the question: _Do you know_..._who took out Russell Styles?_"

Damian grew unresponsive and diverted his gaze from Stanley's eyes to the table in thought.

It was a while of clear thinking before the criminal slowly gazed the officer as Stanley kept his gaze to him, awaiting his answer.

* * *

Stanley re-entered the watch room, which has gotten Winifred's attention. 

As he closed the door behind him, Stanley took note of her attentional gaze and spoke.

"You heard that, right?"

Approaching and standing next to him, Winifred nodded as Stanley leaned against the door with his arms crossed.

"Yeah. Looks like we got our suspect. A grey rabbit...or not."

Stanley's gaze to her was of confusion before he spoke.

"'Or not?' W-What do you mean?"

"I mean, California's a big city. There's lots of grey rabbit's throughout the city. What are the odds of running into the right one?"

Silence a bit, Stanley lowered his gaze while pondering the question and sighed deeply before speaking.

"I don't know." He said, softly

Despite getting his answer from the henchman, Stanley was a bit uncertain at this point. Nevertheless, he left the issue alone in hopes that he'll find his killer when the opportunity presents itself.

* * *


	6. Crossing Paths

Chapter Six: **Crossing Paths  
**

* * *

It was the mid-afternoon as pedestrians were waltzing the sidewalks, less paying attention to anyone's presence.

Among the crowd of people, Lola Bunny was alone, seated at a single table outside of a restaurant known as '_The Hometown Buffet._'

She wore a slightly leathered black jacket that covers her shirt, a light purple designed skirt, a fourteen-karat ring on her middle finger, and wore short-heeled red slippers.

Her slender tan bare legs were crossed under the table. However, they became noticeable to a couple of male bystanders.

However, due to the distraction, one of them walked right into a nearby lamp post and was rendered unconscious while another, who was issued the same treatment, tripped and fell right over him.

The incident literally caught the attention of a couple of pedestrians, but they ignored it and resumed their walk. Lola took note of it as well and followed their example while resuming her wait.

She was apparently waiting on a call from her job, which, to her, was kind of normal. Others would just go to their jobs in person. Most of the time, she wished that she had a car so she could drive there rather than walk it. But she mentally convinced herself that walking would do some good.

She sat there in wait for the next five minutes before she immediately caught sight of someone sitting opposite of her in the form of Bugs Bunny.

With a smile, he spoke.

"Hi."

With a single nod of the head, Lola returned the gesture and spoke.

"Likewise."

Lola took note of the attire that he wore, which he recommended earlier in the day, before speaking.

"Isn't it a little hot for a trench coat?"

He inspected his attire before speaking.

"Well, yeah." He said, and then sent his gaze to her. "But I've decided to wear it anyway, just in case we go inside."

Lola issued a confused gaze to Bugs, and then anticipated on what he was referring to before speaking.

"What, you mean go inside here?" She asked, gesturing to the restaurant.

Bugs took note of the expression and followed suit upon her question.

"Well, yeah. Isn't-Isn't dat why you're sittin' out here?"

Lola shook her head.

"No."

With his expression switched from confusion to dejection, Bugs' ears lowered to the side.

"Oh."

Lola took note of this, then, after a brief train of thought, came up with a solution.

"Well, you know, I am hungry. So it won't hurt to have lunch."

Smiling, with his ears perked up, Bugs spoke.

"Y-Yeah. We could have lunch."

Nodding, Lola and Bugs got up and went inside of the place. However, they were completely unaware of two individuals approaching towards the same area.

* * *

Several feets away, Stanley and Winifred, whom were freely off-duty until tonight, were waltzing the sidewalk pass pedestrians on their way to a restaurant of sorts for a bite to eat. 

During their walk, they were pondering and conversing on the investigation.

"You know, this reminds me of a game called '_Where's Wanda._'"

Winifred issued a confused gaze to Stanley and spoke.

"Who the hell is Wanda?"

Stanley shook his head to clear his thoughts and spoke.

"Sorry. I meant, '_Waldo._'"

Nodding, Winifred diverted her gaze forward.

"Oh." She said, before Stanley resumed.

"Difference: _He's not a goddamn rabbit_."

With her gaze droned forward, Winifred spoke.

"Well, we'll find this guy eventually, you know. Hopefully, you'll get lucky." Winifred said, trying a spark a measure of hope in her partner.

But Stanley grew briefly unfazed by the comment with a measure of doubt before speaking.

"I don't know, Winny. I mean, what are the odds of us finding the right rabbit?"

"You know something, that's kind of what I said. Yet, I had no answer. What makes you think you'll get one from me?"

Stanley pondered the question a bit, and then sighed deeply before speaking.

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Of course I am. Look, let's just get some protein and beverage into our veins before putting police work into discussion. Okay?"

Stanley nodded in response as he and Winifred made their way inside Hometown Buffet.

* * *

The Hometown Buffet was packed with customers, people and toons alike. Although the buffet was a huge place, it has a variety of entrees to choose from. 

Since every person in the place was able to choose any food they want, it's no wonder that they called it a '_Salad Bar._'

At one seat lounge, Bugs was seated on the left side with a variety of food on his plate. One of which is a salad with cucumbers, cheese, olives, pickles, chopped eggs, a sprinkle of shredded carrots, and topped with ranch dressing.

Lola was on the opposite side with a different variety of food. The only thing that was pretty much the same was the salad, except it had slices of cranberry sauce to it.

Bugs, momentarily, took note to that with interest.

'_Hmm. She likes cranberry sauce_.' He thought

Then, he remembered the conversation he had with her at Starbucks. But despite that, he wasn't entirely sure at that point.

"Say, Lola..."

Swallowing a bit of her food, Lola gazed to him and spoke.

"Yes?"

Bugs hesitated a bit, and then spoke.

"Aside from carrots, you like everything else, right?"

Lola grew silence while studying his gaze. A measure of curiosity was in those eyes of his. Not that she would mind. In fact, she found it kind of cute when he's in a curious state of mind.

With a smile, she responded.

"That's right. Why?"

Bugs shrugged his shoulders and spoke.

"Nothin'. Just noticing da cranberry sauce. I didn't know ya actually liked dat stuff."

Lola snickered upon his comment as Bugs noticed.

"What?"

Lola kept her gaze to him with the sweet smile on her face and decided to humor him a bit.

"You didn't know that I actually liked hot chocolate neither."

Bugs covered his mouth to keep from letting out a chuckle upon her comment, but failed much to Lola's notice.

For a moment, Bugs uncovered his mouth, loosened the smile a bit and got into thought of what transpired earlier before they entered the restaurant.

Once again, he was on act to an emotion. An emotion of dejection. The reason he didn't react to it before was not only because of Lola's invitational answer, which she took her time to do, but a sudden feeling that closed the gap in the middle between her answer and his emotion.

_Dejection...Feeling...Answer..._

It became apparent to him that he was having these sudden feeling for her. Those feelings appear to be mentally fighting him, but he somewhat decided to fight back to deny those feelings.

Closing his eyes, he exhaled a deep breath of relief.

'_Strange._' He thought

An amount of feelings struggling to get free into his very being was indeed strange. Yet, he managed to block them out of his mind for a while.

Lola took note of this with concern and spoke.

"Bugs?"

Bugs opened his eyes to apply his gaze to her and spoke.

"Yeah?"

Lola leered forward a bit and spoke.

"Y-You okay?"

Briefly silence, Bugs momentarily took note of the ring on her finger before nodding in response.

Smiling, Lola went back to her meal before Bugs, whose gaze was diverted to her, spoke.

"You married?"

Before the spoon of food reached her mouth, she halted, then gazed Bugs in confusion.

"Huh?"

"You married?"

Silence a bit, Lola shook her head.

"No. Why?"

In response, Bugs set his eyes on the ring, before Lola noticed and followed his example. Upon anticipation, she spoke.

"Oh, this?" She said, then gazed Bugs while indicating her ring. "This isn't a wedding ring. This is a twenty-four karat jewelry ring, which I got from my house."

Silence, Bugs nodded.

"Oh. Nice ring."

With a grateful smile of response, Lola resumed her meal, while Bugs, although a bit hesitant did the same.

* * *

About four lounges down, Stanley and Winifred were seated there enjoying the rest of their food as well. 

Stanley was on the right seat while Winifred was on the left.

Momentarily, Stanley tried to converse on the investigation and Winifred, once again, decided to talk him off of it until they were done eating.

Reluctantly, Stanley agreed and resumed his meal while Winifred did the same. But during the ordeal, she grew briefly suspicious of her partner's behavior whenever it comes to police work.

At one point, she wanted to ask him. At another, she decided against it in order to not apply any pressure on the issue.

Nonetheless, she left it alone for now until the time was right.

Stanley, on the other hand, was mentally disturbed. But he was partially good at hiding his emotions long enough to not have his partner to notice.

At countless times, he wanted to tell her, but once again had to refrain himself from doing so.

To him, that issue was his and his alone to confront. Not anyone else.

However, his conscience told him otherwise. Should he tell her about his past experiences or not? That was the only question. Yet, he never answered. The reason: _Was it fear?_ He didn't know. All he knew is that he hopes to catch this mysterious killer before he strikes again.

As he brushed the thought off by each chews of food from within his mouth, Stanley tok a brief and casual look over Winifred's shoulder. Then, he did a double take as he caught sight of a face of grey passed the brief line of people.

Winifred noticed and started to speak, but Stanley held a hand up to halt her from doing so.

As he narrowed his eyes for a close observation, without the purpose of directing suspicion by removing himself from his seat, Stanley took note of the person's long ears in the distance.

_Could that person be a rabbit? The one that the henchman identified? The one that he's looking for? Could he be the killer?_

He wasn't sure at this point. It could be kids wearing a cap with rabbit ears as a means for a practical joke. Or it could be another grey rabbit as a citizen. All these certain possibilities became confusing to him.

As he gazed away from the area in thought, Winifred eventually decided to speak.

"Stanley, what's going on?" She asked

She expected an answer out of him, but all she got was pure silence.

"Stanley!" She shouted in a whisper

Stanley snapped out of his trance, and then gazed to her.

"What?"

"What the fuck is going on here? You're looking over my shoulder and suddenly zoning out? What's going on?"

Stanley was silence and before he could answer, he looked over Winifred's left shoulder again to find, to his notice, a grey bunny waltzing away from his lounge with a plate in hand.

Winifred noticed and started to look, but Stanley halted her from that attempt.

Bugs was on his way to the food buffet when, to his unawareness, his wallet suddenly dropped to the floor right next to the lounge that occupies the two off-duty officers.

Stanley noticed and picked it up. Having had a brief peek of the ID inside, he peeked out his lounge and called the grey bunny back.

Bugs halted and gazed in their direction before noticing that Stanley was gesturing his wallet in his hand.

As he approached their direction, Stanley gracefully gave the wallet back to him.

"Drop something."

With a smile, Bugs took the wallet and nodded.

"Thanks, doc."

Nodding with a smile in return, Stanley spoke.

"No problem. Don't worry. It's all there."

Snickering, Bugs spoke.

"Yeah, I know."

Then, Bugs walked off, leaving the officers to their business. Stanley briefly watched his departure before gazing to Winifred, who smiled upon the display.

Stanley took note of this.

"What?"

"That was real generous of you."

Snickering a bit, Stanley spoke.

"Thanks."

Then, his expression slowly grew serious before speaking.

"Listen, Winny..." He said as she gave him the full attention. "...when we get back to the station, I want you to check up on a name."

"Which is...?"

"Bugs Bunny."

Winifred nodded, but grew suspicious of the ordeal.

"Okay. And how did you..."

She halted herself upon anticipation and gazed over to the grey bunny, who was getting his beverage. Then, in surprise, she gazed to Stanley, who issued a wide smile.

Shaking her head, her expression changed to one of annoyance, she spoke.

"So much for generosity."

Stanley grimaced and spoke.

"Y-I didn't take anything. Honest."

"And yet, you decide to take a peek into his wallet for identification."

Stanley groaned in annoyance while Winifred resumed.

"Look, Stanley, for all you know, it could be the wrong rabbit."

"You know, you're right. But we could at least try."

Silence a bit, Winifred sighed deeply in defeat before speaking.

"Okay. Okay, we'll try."

Stanley nodded as he and his partner resumed their meal.

* * *


	7. Stanley's Past

Chapter Seven: **Stanley's Past

* * *

Bold Texts- Indicates Flashback Sequences

* * *

**Stanley and Winifred were back on duty a couple of hours later by the beginning of the evening.

When they got to the station, Winifred wasted little time on doing a background check on the name that her partner has recommended to her.

It took a while before she eventually came up with the person's file. Afterwards, she printed the documents out and went on approach towards her partner, who was waiting anxiously for the results.

Stanley took note of her approach and gently took the documents handed to him.

"According to the documents, they're clean. The guy's a loner, has a classified part-time job, no spouse, no children, etc."

While Stanley resumed staring down at the documents in wonder, Winifred issued a smirk to him.

"Stanley, you don't have to look that over any further. You got the wrong guy, he's clean."

With his gaze droned to the documents, Stanley spoke.

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that."

Instantly, Winifred issued a confused gaze to her partner.

"What do you mean?"

In response, Stanley eventually looked up to her and held up a small tracking device in his left hand.

Upon shocking notice to that, Winifred's expression grimaced with annoyance followed by a scoff issuing from her breath.

"You—You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"Winny—"

"You put a tracker on him?"

"Not on _him_, on his _wallet_. Just to prove that I'm wrong."

With the expression still intact on her face, Winifred crossed her arms together and spoke.

"Yeah, and if you're right, you'll go out there gun-blazing."

"Winny—" He started, but Winifred once again intervened, her expression changed with worry.

"Look, Stanley." She started as she sat opposite him before interlocking her fingers together. "I—"

But she stopped and lowered her gaze from him. Mentally, she debated on whether or not it was the right time to talk about his behavior. In truth, she was afraid of his reaction if she were to mention something beyond her understanding.

Stanley took note of this with a measure of concern before leaning over and placing hand on her interlocking hands issuing a measure of calm.

"Winifred, if something is wrong, then you should tell me."

"It's not me that I'm worried about." She said before diverting her worried expression towards her partner. "It's you."

Stanley was slightly taken aback by the response, but decided to listen as Winifred resumed.

"Ever since our investigation started, you grew very tense as of late. As if something is troubling you. And I'm afraid if I'd ask you what it was, you'd—"

She stopped herself from getting into the comment much longer.

Stanley took note that she was almost on the verge of tears before going into thought. _Should he tell her? Should he tell her about his past experiences?_

Silence, Stanley lowered his sudden sorrowful gaze from her and took a deep breath before relating to Winifred of his past while she listened with interest.

* * *

(**Four Years Ago**)

**In an apartment complex, a crime scene was developed in the place where six outlines of the victims were on the floor across from the area as Officers Stanley Anderson and his partner Samuel Bergen was assigned to the case on a unusual, yet mysterious rate of homicides. **

**Aside from the casual police uniform, Samuel Bergen was a black cat with whiskers and a grayish nose including a bandage at the tip of his tail that was once severed off by a stray bullet. **

Occasionally, Stanley questioned him on that little incident, but Sam verbally forced him to drop the subject. And, naturally, his long-crooked-earred partner shrugged the issue off.

Right now, they were on an investigation on this case. To Stanley, the case was strange considering the multiple homicides coming from one apartment building. 

**The investigation was long, but so far they came up with no leads. But that was up until Stanley came across a nearby window that had a single hole in it. **

**Slowly, Stanley approached and inspected it while Sam took note of it and approached towards his direction.**

"**Stan, what is it?" He spoke.**

**Silence for a while, Stanley slowly caressed the window where the many cracks were surrounding the small hole.**

"**Strange. There's a hole in the window." He eventually spoke.**

**Sam creased his eyebrow upon the comment.**

"**Obvious statement of the year. How many holes in windows that you don't see in a multiple homicide crime scene?"**

"**Not as many as this one. In fact, I believe the bullet came through this window…" He started before trailing his hand from the window and straight across the area. "…and straight across this room taking out the six people all at once." **

Sam followed his example and nodded upon the impressive comment. 

"**Huh. You know, you might as well work as a forensic analyst with words like that, Stan. But one question: **_**How is this strange?**_**"**

"**How is this strange?" Stanley repeated as he approached and examined the outlines while Sam followed behind. "**_**Strange**_** is that no normal, single bullet casing can take out six drug dealers all at once unless, of course, if it's a laser."**

**He halted and turned towards Sam, who halted in front of him.**

"**So, what are you saying, partner?" **

"**I'm saying that if this was a drug deal gone bad, the gunfire would take place inside, not outside. In other words, this was a hit."**

**Stunned silence was greeted between the two and during that time, Stanley took note of a faint red light in the distance. To his shock, the laser sight was directed behind his partner.**

**Sam took note of the expression on his partner's face and grew concerned.**

"**Stanley, what's—"**

"**Sam, get down!!"**

**Sam quickly ducked while Stanley shielded him with his back to the window. And no sooner before a bullet stripped its way through the window towards its target.**

**As it neared Stanley, time virtually slows as the bullet went through the back while the long eared officer grunted in pain from the impact of the projectile.**

**As time reverted to normal, Stanley started breathing heavily to keep from passing out as he strongly grimaced from the pain. **

Disregarding the pain and his injury, he checked on his partner, but then noticed blood on his hand where it was positioned at Sam's back, which perplexed him at this point. 

"**What?"**

**To him, this was impossible, but then grew horrified upon remembering his early discovery. Upon that thought, he looked to find the bullet casing on the floor where blood dripped from the injury. Shockingly, it wasn't his injury.**

"**No. Sam?" He called as he scrambled to check on his partner.**

**But by the time that he did, he was too late. The body of Samuel Bergen was cold and motionless…he was dead.**

**Upon that fact, Stanley was reduced to sorrowful tears while his breath shivered.**

"**Oh, Sam." His voice broke as he lowered his head in sorrow.

* * *

**Winifred grew shocked and was almost on the verge of tears upon that story as Stanley took notice and lowered his gaze from her.

After a while of silence, Winifred finally had the energy to speak.

"Did…did th—Did they ever found out who—"

Immediately, Stanley shook his head and gazed to Winifred.

"No. And ever since then, I have been emotionally devastated. So much that I had to take a few years off the job to get my head straight. He had a goddamn wife and kids, Winny. He had a family."

Winifred nodded in comprehension.

"And you think that this Bugs Bunny may have something to do with it?"

Silence, Stanley took a deep breath before responding.

"Truth be told, Winny, I hope to God that I'm wrong because the last thing that I want to do is go after the wrong guy. I have to get my facts straight first before even going to head with him."

Winifred nodded in agreement.

"Good thinking."

"But…if I'm right…" He halted in thought of his partner, diverted his gaze downward and took another deep breath before returning his gaze to Winifred, who grew worried upon his next comment. "…then God be with this guy because nobody else on this earth would be."

* * *

A/N: **_Sorry for the long wait. Writer's block at the moment, but otherwise being taken care of. I also had other stories on the roster, which puts most of my stories on hold at this point. Not to mention that I was occupied with the real-life situations at this point. Anyway, keep a lookout for more updates. Ciao!_**


	8. Confronting the Assailant

Chapter Eight: **Confronting The Assailant  
****

* * *

**

Bugs returned to his home of residence and wasted little time rushing into his bedroom.

Due to the luncheon at the Hometown Buffet restaurant and his mental thoughts of a certain female, Bugs has not only lost track of the time, but his deadline as well. He practically had to bribe the cabby to rush him back to his apartment.

As he exited the bedroom, he was in his trench coat and has shades on his eyes. In his left hand carries a silver briefcase that withheld his weapon of choice for the job.

Before he approached the front door, he checked his wristwatch to find that he was thirty minutes towards the deadline. He needed to hurry and fast.

* * *

(**Outside**)

He exited his apartment and descended the stairs towards the cab that was waiting for him.

The cabby noticed, but kept his gaze forward as Bugs entered the back seat and closed the door behind him.

After he verified his destination to the driver, the cab took off towards the place oblivious of the fact that the cab was being followed.

* * *

(**Inside Taxi Cab**)

Bugs checked his watch to find that he was twenty-six minutes out at the moment.

"Damn." He muttered.

As he constantly sat back in a measure of calm, he grew oblivious to the fact that a slight blinking red light was illuminating from the inside of his pocket where his wallet was positioned.

* * *

(**Inside Building Complex**)

Inside, a gunrunner by the name of Damon Mortimer was seated in the chair showing his latest merchandise to a few of his buyers.

He appears as a grey hyena with crooked ears, sharp fangs for teeth, and a long spiky tail. His attire consists of a business suit while his buyers, whether humans or toons, were in their different articles of clothing.

As Damon resumed his observance speech to his buyers, he failed to notice that he was being watched at the moment.

* * *

Outside, Bugs, after having received his next objective moments ago, was positioned behind the concrete on the rooftop watching his next target from across the building.

He was only seven minutes out from his deadline at the moment, but regardless, he was on time. His only objective was to take out the lead gunrunner, that's all. The buyers are of no importance to him at this point.

Wearing his tactical gear including his mask, he kept his stern sight on the target at the same time that he was trying to keep his sight slightly in the left direction for the apparent reason: _The unknown assailant._

Last time, that unknown assailant has cost him not only his target, but also his retirement plan. He wanted off the job, and the only way that he was going to accomplish that was to perform one last task of elimination.

But now that this assailant was in play, it became difficult for him to go in for his kills.

Nevertheless, his boss was right. If this assailant interferes again, it will be on Bugs' next target list.

Bugs checked his wristwatch again to find that he was four minutes out. With a sigh escaping his breath, he resumed his wait unaware of the fact that he was being tracked at the moment from behind the very building that he stood upon.

* * *

Behind the empty building, the police cruiser that occupied two officers were stationed there. Neither person on the streets was acknowledging its presence at the moment.

* * *

Stanley was seated in the passenger's side while Winifred was on the driver's front as both officers were on watch.

The whole entire ride grew in silence during their silent tracking of the alleged suspect. Yet, Winifred couldn't help but issue her worries towards her partner.

True, Stanley has told her the story of what has happened with his last partner, which led to his few years of grievous solitude. But regardless, she felt worried due to his commitment.

He wanted to make this person pay for, not only his recent crimes, but also those that happened four years ago involving his partner. Some would say that the shooting of a cop would be twenty years to life sentence for the perpetrator, which was find with Stanley at this point.

But he needed actual proof that this guy was held responsible for these recent crime occurrences. And the only way to do that was to confront the shooter face-to-face.

But what increased the female officer's worries is what would the outcome be upon this confrontation. Hence was the reason why she came along for the ride. For all she knew, he might get himself killed by this person if such things, like revenge, cloud his mind. She couldn't let that happen, not to her first partner.

Stanley, on the other hand, was on the verge of narrowing his eyes to the slumber of sleep, but luckily, Winifred was able to nudge him back to reality as he, after issuing his gratitude to her, kept his gaze to the tracking device in his hand.

* * *

Bugs was two minutes out as he assembled his sniper rifle and put it in place while looking through the scope.

Momentarily, he scoped out a couple issuing sexual intercourse with each other inside of the bedroom of a neighboring building, which caused him to envision himself in that position with a certain female bunny that he recently thought about.

Then, a stray silent bullet flinched him from the distraction and back to reality before he quickly diverted his aim forward only to find, to his utter dismay, that the lead gunrunner was lead motionless on his own large puddle of blood.

Instantly, his attention was diverted to the left side. Up on the roof of a neighboring building, he saw the lone standing silhouette, wielding its own sniper rifle in its right hand.

Recognition was apparent in Bugs' mind: _It was the assailant_.

Quickly, he disassembled his weapon and placed them inside the briefcase. After closing it, he made haste towards the adjacent building by way of going down the drainpipe.

* * *

Inside the cruiser…

"Did you hear that?" Winifred asked out of alert.

Stanley, with the same expression of alert on his face, nodded while gazing the tracking device.

"Yeah, it was a gunshot." He said as he started to exit the vehicle. "Stay here."

Winifred noticed, but was late to react as he was out the car and headed fast in the direction on his suspect.

* * *

Meanwhile, the assailant, who wore a dark tactical gear and a mask over its face, was racing down the stairwell towards the front exit.

But before the assailant made it halfway to the second floor, it halted and caught sight of another tactical suit wearing figure in a mask by the name of Bugs Bunny.

Upon sight, the assailant quickly unholstered a sidearm, took aim and fired a couple of shots in the pursuer's direction.

As Bugs evaded off the side, a few bullets made contact with the wall while some ricocheted off the metallic stair rail.

The distraction was enough for the assailant to quickly ascend back up the stairs as Bugs regained himself and returned gunfire from a sidearm of his own. Yet, the same results of the shots were that of the assailant as he gave chase shortly afterwards.

* * *

Upon halting his run at the front entrance of the building, Stanley turned at the knob, but discovered it was locked from the inside.

With a grimace of frustration, he took a step back and started to kick the door open, yet it didn't budge. But regardless, he kept the attempt up in hopes to get it open and catch up with his alleged killer.

* * *

Although numerous gunshots from the assailant has forced the mercenary to evasion and caused him to trail a couple of feet behind, Bugs managed to make his way out the door to the rooftop of the building.

As he got halted with the door closing on its own upon exit, he surveyed the rooftop only to find no traces of the assailant anywhere.

Then, he noticed another drainpipe at the left side edge of the rooftop. Could the assailant have escaped by from there? It was a possibility since he provided the escape plan himself.

Regardless of his thoughts, he decided to check it out.

As he made his approach towards the area, he halted upon gunpoint that was inches away from the side of his head.

The assailant was the holder of the weapon as its finger was firmly on the trigger.

But before any reaction was made, Bugs, out of pure instinct, swiftly used his right hand to grasp the upper wrist of the assailant, forcing the gun holder to pull the trigger and open fire in another direction.

A second shot went off and missed as Bugs used his other hand to grasp the neck of the assailant and forced the masked person against the brick wall.

But the assailant used its right hand to grasp the wrist of the masked mercenary in a struggling attempt to break the hold from its neck, but the strength of the mercenary has rivaled its own at this point.

To that knowledge, the assailant issued its right knee to Bugs' midsection, which was enough to release the hold.

Upon release, the assailant issued a sharp head butt to the mercenary while Bugs slightly staggered from the effect of the attack, yet his right grasp was still to the upper wrist, slightly pulling his new target along.

The assailant took note of that and issued a left roundhouse to knock his arm off, which in turn, knocked the gun from its own hand.

As Bugs staggered slightly from the attack, the gun clattered to the ground as the assailant noticed before successfully grasping the gun from that area.

But as the assailant aimed forward, Bugs was quick to recover and aim his sidearm in the perpetrator's direction.

It was a silent standoff as Bugs, with his aim intact, retreated away while the assailant advanced forward from the side of the rooftop's brick wall.

As they got to the clearing on the rooftop, they circled each other with their aims locked on one another. Each was waiting for the other to pull the trigger first.

_Click…_

The click of an empty gun issued, yet it became the gun of the assailant.

Upon anticipation of this, the assailant lowered its weapon from aiming position and awaited its end as Bugs, who almost grew confused by this reaction, kept his aim forward in an attempt to fire. But after nearly a minute, the mercenary suddenly gave way to an odd, yet strong feeling that compels him to slowly lower his weapon from aiming position.

Mentally, Bugs questioned his decision to do that, but didn't have long to process his thoughts before the banging of the rooftop's door has caught his and the assailant's attention.

Quickly, they both made haste off the rooftop in opposite directions before the door gave way revealing Stanley Anderson entering the rooftop with his gun at the ready.

As he surveyed the area, he found that nothing was in sight.

But regardless, the officer looked into his left hand that held the tracking device to find that the suspect was still on the move nearby.

Quickly, he followed his track to the drainpipe on the left and slid it down to an alleyway where the trace originated.

As he landed on the ground, he took aim as he made a slow inspection of the alley for his suspect.

So far, he has found nothing until a faint red light has caught his attention from behind a dumpster.

Cautiously, he approached towards the dumpster with his gun at the ready. However, when he got there, to his grimacing dismay, a small rat scattered away from the area with the blinking red tracking signal along with him.

Out of frustration, Stanley kicked the side of the dumpster before he sighed and placed both his hands on his hips in a measure of calm.

"That's just fucking great." He spoke softly.

* * *

A/N: _**It would seem that Officer Stanley has lost his alleged suspect. But what was next for the two officers? And what is going through the mind of mercenary Bugs Bunny due to the surprising outcome of his confrontation with the assailant? Until next chap, Ciao**_!

Next Chap: _Bugs learns the shocking truth behind the unknown assailant_.


	9. Revelation of the Assailant

Chapter Nine: **Revelation of the Assailant**

* * *

(**Thirty Minutes Later**)

Bugs, who arrived at his home of residence thirty minutes later, was in a fume. And in his shroud of frustration, he constantly slammed his fists onto the top of his drawer.

"Goddamn it!" He fumed, silently.

Eventually, he seized from his fit and, with his eyes cringed shut, started breathing heavily in an effort to keep himself calm.

As his breathing eased and his facial expression loosened, he couldn't help but think back on what has transpired on that rooftop earlier.

It was no surprise to him that he has failed to eliminate the previous target, which once again voided his retirement plan. However, it became an unsettling situation due to the outcome of eliminating his next target.

It was a simple job: If the assailant interferes, then it will become the next target of elimination for him.

But once again, Mercenary Bugs Bunny found himself in the crosshair of his own emotions.

But the most unsettling part was that these emotional feelings were directed towards this unknown assailant.

The question was: _Why_?

He recently pondered this question during his trip back to his home and came up with a startling assumption: Could it be that he somewhat knows this mysterious assailant? Was that the reason why he couldn't bring himself to issue the kill?

Regardless of his assumption, he was left with confusion. Yet, he managed to shake off these feelings with an expression of stern determination as he diverted his attention to his reflection in a mirror that's connected to the drawer.

He now has a serious work to do in order to issue his retirement from the job. It's just the question of how he is going to find this individual. The assailant could be anywhere.

Mentally, he hoped to cross path with this assailant again. And when he does, there will be no room for mistakes, which means no hesitation or, especially, emotional content. He will administer the kill to his target, and when he does, he's off the job permanently.

With that thought in mind, he came to thought on another issue that was bothering him: _The tracking device_.

Recently, he has gotten rid of the device that was connected to his wallet, yet his mental questions remained. _Who was tailing him and why_?

Could it be the organization that he works for since they monitor his recent kills? He didn't know. At one point, his boss and his associates would rely on the television news for those confirmations. So he had to rule that out.

Then, his thought diverted to the police. But he didn't see a single cop on sight during his job, so he ruled that out as well. But regardless of his ruling, it was worse checking out. And he was going to start with his boss.

But it was night and rest was quickly settling in his being as he provided a yawn from his breath before preparing for a night rest.

* * *

(**Five Minutes Later**)

The room inside a complex building was darkened as the light was suddenly dimmed on inside.

Positioned at the light switch next to the front door was the unknown masked assailant, who, moments ago made its entrance inside the back window to avoid pedestrians on the streets and residences in the building.

In the assailant's right hand held a briefcase with its weapon of choice for its job.

Momentarily, the assailant has made its way to the bedroom, where the automatic air-conditioning system was active, and placed the briefcase underneath the bed before standing back up again.

Behind the mask, the assailant was breathing heavily out of fatigue from the recent run towards this building while trying to avoid the pedestrians and authority figures in the originated areas.

The entire run grew tiresome to the assailant, which led to sweat glands.

That being true, the assailant reached up and removed its mask to apply some comfort of air.

As the mask was removed, a tanned facial feature was seen revealing a female bunny with sweats beaded over her face. Her ears were cast backwards and her blonde hair appeared to be combed back a bit in order for the headgear to fit.

Her eyes were narrowed and tired at the moment as she, regardless of her wearing her previous attire, sat at the edge of her bed and released the hold on her mask, which came in contact with the floor.

As she used the back of her left wrist to wipe the beads of sweat from her face, thoughts have ran through her mind pertaining to what has transpired earlier on.

She knew that she was out of bullets during that unusual confrontation with the mysterious assassin. Mentally, she figured that it was one left in the chamber, but apparently it wasn't.

Due to that fact, her first instinct was to fight her way out of the standoff. But instead, she lowered her gun from aim point and hesitated, which left her open for a gunshot.

But the question on her mind was: _Why_? Why hesitate in the middle of that?

She didn't know. Then, to her surprise, this assassin suddenly mirrored her actions. Why? Was it a sign of mercy or surrender? She didn't know. But for some odd reason, she felt like she knows this assassin. She felt like she has seen him before, but from where?

Those were the thoughts protruding in her mind at this point, yet her answers grew in silence. But regardless, she needed a good night's rest. It was late and she had little time to deal with her contacts at the moment.

As she got up from the edge of the bed, she got out of her tactical gear and placed it away before getting dressed in her sleeping gown.

Afterwards, she headed straight for bed and let sleep overcome her.

* * *

(**Later That Morning**)

Later that morning inside the Starbucks café, Daffy's expression grew of shock and disbelief upon the related news from Bugs in regards to last night's confrontation with the unknown assailant.

"What?" He spoke, his expression intact.

Bugs, who long since finished his morning coffee, nodded while his gaze was downcast from the black duck's eyes with an expression of disappointment.

"But, this guy pulled the trigger first with the utmost intention to kill you. Then, the gun was empty. Why didn't you take your shot when your chamber was full?"

Silence, Bugs shook his head.

"I don't know. I pondered dat idea myself during my ride back home. But…I was too frustrated to even think straight. And by da time dat I cleared my head, I got to thinking about it again and couldn't help but get da feeling dat…somehow I know 'dis person."

Daffy creased an eyebrow upon the comment.

"Really?"

Bugs nodded in response.

"Huh."

"But…" Bugs started as he diverted his gaze to Daffy. "Regardless of what happened, I'm not gonna let it distract me from my woik. So when I find dis guy, I'm going to finish him off. No hesitation, no emotional content, no mistakes. I want dis to end."

Silence, Daffy nodded.

"So do I, old pal. So do I. So what are you gonna do next?"

Silence, Bugs took a deep breath before speaking.

"Well, I'm headed over to my place of business and have words with my boss."

"Oh, yeah?"

Bugs nodded in response.

"Reason?"

"It seems I'm being tagged. I found a tracking device in my wallet during my escape."

Daffy grew perplexed upon the comment.

"What?"

Bugs nodded.

"Yeah."

"Well, who's tailing you?"

Bugs shook his head.

"I'm not sure. My foist guess was my place of business and my second leaves da cops."

"I thought the whole point of the job was to not be identified by the police."

"It is. I just didn't know dat I was being followed. I mean I scoped the area out myself. Dere wasn't a single cop near my vantage point."

Daffy shrugged.

"Maybe they were hiding somewhere."

Bugs' expression grew uncertain upon that theory.

"Maybe, I don't know." He spoke softly before standing up from his seat. "But I'm gonna check it out."

"Wait, both of them?"

Bugs shook his head.

"No. I'm not going to risk goin' to da cops. My best shot at dem is a confrontation."

Daffy nodded.

"Good thinking. Good luck."

Bugs issued a snicker from his breath.

"I'll need it." He spoke as he turned and made his leave.

* * *

(**One Hour and a ½ Minutes Later – Javier Devilin's Office**)

Bugs slammed his left hand down onto the desk with a stern expression directed at his boss.

With his gaze directed to Bugs' left hand, Javier, whose hands were interlaced together in front of him, showed no immediate expression to this reaction, yet he was curious by the sudden cause of it.

After a while of silence, he provided his stern gaze towards his prodigy as Bugs, upon notice, slowly withdrew his hand a few feet away from its current position.

As Bugs kept his stern gaze towards his boss, Javier looked down and noticed, upon slight recognition, a small inactive object positioned on his desk.

Bugs took note of his boss' expression as both parties grew silence for a while.

After a while, Javier, regardless of his expression of recognition, issued his attention to his prodigy.

"Is this something I should be familiar with?"

Bugs shrugged his shoulders.

"You tell me. You know, it took me an hour and a half to find and deactivate dis thing, which almost grows tiresome, by da way. But with all due respect, sir, I don't like da idea of being trailed. If you want a progress on my reports, either look on da news or give me a call."

"Clearly, there has been a misunderstanding."

"Elaborate."

"This does not belong to me."

Silence, Bugs' expression remained stern, yet suspicion slightly replaced his facial feature.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"You said yourself: Either watch news or give you call."

Bugs' expression loosened slightly as Javier noticed and issued a slight smile on his face.

"Speaking of, I watched the news. Your work?"

Silence, Bugs' eyes diverted downward, his thoughts of the tracking device leaving him at the moment, while his expression grew of disappointment as he shook his head.

"No."

Upon the response, Javier's smile slowly turned into a frown as a sign of disappointment, yet he anticipated something like an interference on the job.

"Then you know what must be done."

Regardless of his expression, Bugs provided his attention to his boss and issued a nod before making his leave.

* * *

Early that evening, after having been romantically spending the whole afternoon with each other—whether it be eating, talking, laughing, or walking the downtown city limits—Bugs and Lola finally decided to call it a night.

But mostly, it was Lola who wanted to call it a night since she had work tonight.

Mentally, Bugs was at a disadvantage about Lola's '_night job_.' Yet, he chose not to question her on that issue. Instead he decided to walk her home to her apartment off Seventh Street, while they were conversing along the way.

As soon as they got there, Bugs walked her up the steps and inside her apartment.

But before they could say their goodbyes to each other, a sudden rumble issued inside the gray hare's stomach.

Bugs braced his left hand to his stomach while blushing of embarrassment upon that.

Lola, however, snickered upon that unusual view.

"Sorry about dat." He spoke.

Lola shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. Come on in."

His blush disappearing, Bugs creased an eyebrow upon the comment.

"I'm sorry?"

Lola beckoned him.

"Come on in. Your stomach isn't going to feed itself, you know."

Bugs snickered upon the jester.

"Dat's true. Alright, as you wish." He complied as he ascended the stairs and got inside the apartment with Lola closing the door afterwards.

* * *

(**20 Minutes Later**)

Inside the apartment, Bugs and Lola were eating their night dinner, to which the blonde tan bunny had spent a good fifteen-to-twenty minutes preparing, while conversing along the way.

Throughout the meal, as Lola started checking her watch, Bugs started surveying around the interior of the house.

As soon as he entered this place, he was in slight awe from the decoration of the flourished furnitures and such. Recently, he has complimented the tan bunny on the appliances inside her apartment while Lola would provide a smile to him in kind upon the comment.

As the gray hare resumed his meal, he stole a glance to Lola to find that she was eating while at the same time, slightly observing her watch.

With his attention back on his dinner, he decided to speak on the matter.

"So, uh…what time is yer night job?" He asked, out of curiosity.

"7:00." She responded while chewing her meal.

After she swallowed her meal, she looked over to him as Bugs quickly noticed and issued a smile on his face.

Lola did likewise, yet was curious about what the smile was for.

"What?"

Bugs shook his head.

"Nothing. It's just looking at yer eyes reminded me of a certain little flower dat I liked as a kid, you know?"

Lola's expression became slightly piqued with interest.

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. I used to smell it a lot in da forest with my parents. I tell ya, the aroma of dat flower was…outstanding. Kinda like your eyes."

Lola covered her mouth upon a sudden snicker that escaped from her maw and the blushes on her face that involuntarily appeared on her cheeks.

Bugs noticed, but kept silence as Lola cleared her throat and spoke.

"Um, uh, thanks."

Then, she checked her watch before getting up from her seat, which caught Bugs' attention.

"Where are ya going?"

"To check my mail."

"Thought dat happened in da morning."

"Yeah, but since I was occupied at that moment, I told the mail-guy to bring my stuff in at night."

Silence, yet a bit confused, Bugs issued a nod before he watched Lola approach towards the door.

"If you're still hungry, there's some more stuff in the fringe, if you like." She spoke from the short distance.

"Okay, thanks." He spoke before the sound of the door closing has caught his long ears.

No sooner has the door closed that his gurgling bladder issued his attention.

Quickly, Bugs got up and headed towards the direction of the bathroom.

Several seconds later, a flush of the toilet issued as the door to the bathroom opened and Bugs made his exit from the area with a breath of relief escaping his maw.

Afterwards, he started back towards the hallway that led back to the kitchen, only to stop midway as he passed an open bedroom.

With an expression of suspicion on his face, he retreated back towards the entrance to the bedroom and halted before looking inside.

As he slowly crossed the threshold of the bedroom, his expression grew of shock upon the sight that he saw.

On the floor halfway under the bed was a tactical headgear.

Slowly, he kneeled and picked it up before examining it. Then, his thoughts trailed back to the incident involving the assailant.

Upon that memory, recognition plastered on the gray hare's facial feature.

"It was da same mask." He muttered.

Then, anticipation came to the gray hare upon this discovery. Yet, as soon as it came, he quickly shook his head in denial.

"No way. It couldn't be her." He softly spoke.

Then again, he wasn't sure. Regardless of them starting a romantic involvement with each other, he knows little about this person or her past.

Recently, during their time together, he had questioned her on her past, yet she chose not to speak on the matter.

He even questioned her on this night job that she has been doing on occasion, yet she chose to not speak on that matter either.

Questions littered the gray hare's mind at the moment: _Could she be hiding something_?

He didn't know. But he was going to find out. The mask was a start, so he resumed his investigation by searching under the bed.

His search wasn't long as he pulled out a beige rectangular suitcase. As he opened it, he grew startle by what he discovered.

On one side of the case, there was one disassembled weapon inside that piece together a sniper rifle while on the other side of the case was a sniper gun where a black silencer piece grew separate from that.

With his shocked gaze intact, Bugs slowly, as if out of keen instinct, diverted his gaze to the side toward a drawer where a laptop was positioned with a fax machine at the left side.

As he stood up, he carefully approached towards the fax machine where a single paper was printed out of the slider.

As he halted in front of the machine, he picked up the paper and examined it.

On the piece of paper was a list of names that were crossed off, two of which that Bugs instantly recognized.

"Russell Styles…" He spoke softly before reading the next one. "Damon Mortimer. My targets."

And upon reading that single piece of paper, Mercenary Bugs Bunny became aware of the startling truth: _Lola Bunny is the assailant_.

"My God."

It was the same Lola Bunny he has recently been romantically involved with.

She was the same person that has invited him into her house for dinner.

She was also the same person with the cute smile, the flower-colored eyes, the blonde hair, and the sensual feminine figure.

She was his romantic interest and now she was his target, to which Bugs anticipated.

Immediately, he shook his head as he stumbled backwards and sat down on the floor next to the open suitcase. No. He couldn't. He wouldn't kill her just for the sake of the retirement plan. But then again, he had no choice. If he didn't do it, the people that he works for will own him for the rest of his life to do their dirty work. If he did, he would be out of this life for good. No more being a mercenary. No more killing.

As he started to stand, something on the paper quickly caught his eyes. It was something that he overlooked that took him by surprise. Another name was on the bottom of the list that remains uncrossed: _Bugs Bunny_.

Slowly, Bugs' expression diverted from the list with anticipation on his expression. His life was now at stake.

Then, upon memories of his earlier words of commitment, his expression hardened with determination as he looked to the suitcase towards the sniper gun.

Without a second thought, he, after placing the list down, took the gun, wounded the silencer on the barrel and stood up on his two feet no sooner before his two long ears caught wind of the door opening from the front.

Quickly, he pocketed the list and, with the sniper gun braced with both hands and at the ready, started out the bedroom towards the kitchen area.

Lola approached towards the kitchen from the living room only to halt her advances upon, to her confusion, finding that someone was missing from the adjacent area.

"Bugs?" She called.

No response.

Unbeknownst to her that the person in question was braced against the sidewall next to the entrance to the kitchen area armed with a sniper gun.

Lola slowly advanced inside the kitchen while once again calling out the latter's name.

Again, she received no response. Then, she halted her stand upon, to her alert, noticing a shadow outside her kitchen that's looming on the hallway sidewall.

Someone was here.

To that knowledge, she quickly, and quietly, withdrew back, hid outside her kitchen on the right side and braced against the wall.

Then, she noticed her purse on the coffee table and stealthily managed to retrieve it before getting back to her previous position.

As she dug into her purse, she snagged a secondary sniper gun with a silencer attached to it.

Afterwards, she placed her purse to the ground and, with the sniper gun braced with both hands and at the ready, started into the kitchen towards the area that the shadow originated from. But, to her surprise, the shadow was gone.

Regardless, she cautiously advanced towards the direction of the hallway. When she finally got there, she looked left and right to find no one there.

Then, she noticed that her bedroom door was closed; yet it was slightly ajar. To her knowledge, she had left that room door wide open the last time she was there, which provided her the knowledge that someone was inside.

Slowly, she advanced towards the room with her gun at the ready. As soon as she got there, she relinquished her right hand from the gun and used it to push the door wide open. Afterwards, she, with her right hand back in place of the gun, advanced inside to find everything else exactly the way it was. Or so she thought.

As she approached to the front of the bed, she looked to the side and noticed that, to her perplex, a paper in the fax machine was missing.

With her gaze droned to the machine, she grew oblivious to the fact that someone was slowly and silently approaching her from behind the entrance door.

As Lola slightly looked down to the ground, her expression grew on alert as she instantly noticed a secondary shadow looming off of her drawer. Someone was behind her pointing a weapon to the back of her head.

Then, she looked to the nearby mirror and took a stunning glimpse of the person's feature behind her in the reflection.

At first, she was in denial of this fact, but nothing was further from the cold hard reality of the truth. She knew who this person was that's behind her.

Silence with an internal deep breath, Lola lowered her weapon from aiming view and slowly diverted her gaze forward. Afterwards, she closed her eyes, separated her right hand from the gun, then releashed the hold on the gun from her left hand as the weapon fell and collided to the ground.

"So…" She spoke with stern softness. "…Are you going to kill me, Mr. Bugs Bunny?"

* * *

_**Cliffhanger!! It's kind of annoying, but exciting at the same time. Anyway, keep on the lookout for next one! Ciao!**_.

**_In the next chap, Bugs demands answers pertaining to the list that he found which would lead to yet another stunning revelation._**


	10. Seeking Answers

Chapter Ten: **Seeking Answers**

* * *

It was a silent standoff.

Mercenary Bugs Bunny stood behind his prey as the sniper gun was in his left hand while his finger was ready to pull the trigger.

Unfortunately, as soon as the prey has asked the question, he grew unresponsive and hesitant.

_Was he going to kill the target or not_?

If he did the deed, he was off this life for good. But if he didn't, then he's in this for the rest of his life. He wanted out of this life and the only way to accomplish that is to kill the person held responsible for voiding his retirement by killing his two recent targets: _Lola Bunny_.

Bugs thought that it would be easy to eliminate a target, yet he found it difficult to eliminate this one. Try as he might, but he couldn't perform the kill shot. Why? Then, the realization dawned on him as his eyes slightly widened.

'_Holy shit. I am havin' feelings for her._' His thoughts spoke.

_Could that be the reason why he couldn't initiate the kill earlier on the rooftop? Could it be why he couldn't kill the female that's in front of him now_?

The whole situation was starting to come to light for the gray mercenary by way of memory of their involvement with each other throughout the few days. He was in love. And he couldn't perform his task of elimination on her because of his feelings for her.

With those thoughts in mind, he slowly lowered his gun from aiming view, yet held on to the gun before his expression grew stern.

The memory of what he discovered earlier was fresh on his mind, which means there were questions to be asked, and regardless of his feelings, he needed answers.

"Assassin. Dat's yer night job?" He asked upon recalling her words from before.

But Lola provided no response, as her eyes were glued shut before Bugs provided another question on his mind.

"Why am I on yer list of targets?" He asked. "Hmm? Did ya know about me all along?"

No response.

Grimacing with a hint of irritation, Bugs approached towards her.

"Answer me, god—"

As soon as he placed his right hand roughly on her left shoulder, Lola quickly opened her glaring eyes, twirled counterclockwise, and used her left hand to knock the gray mercenary's hand away.

The action took Bugs off-guard and by surprise as Lola capitalized on that by issuing a punch to his sternum, which was enough to have the gray mercenary, who was staggering from the attack, to relinquish the hold on the sniper gun.

As the gun collided with the ground, Lola quickly took a stance and threw a left roundhouse kick in the mercenary's direction.

Immediately, Bugs saw the move and ducked away from it.

As he stood back up, he used his right hand to intercept the left wrist of Lola Bunny, who vainly attempted a back fist.

As she struggled to get free, both rabbits glared into each other's eyes as Bugs yanked Lola closed to him.

"Answer my question, goddamn it! Who do ya woik for dat got me on yer hit list?! Huh?"

Instantly, she issued a head butt to the gray hare as Bugs grunted and his head recoiled from the impact while his hold on Lola loosened.

Upon notice of that sensation, Lola relinquished herself from his grasp into a grab of her own to his wrist and, with brute strength, threw him onto the nearby bed.

As soon as Bugs collided on his back with his head on the foot of the bed, Lola was immediately on top of him in hopes to finish the job.

But Bugs, with brute strength of his own, managed to reverse the maneuver so that he would be on top of her. Upon that success, he used his hands to pin her upper wrists over her head while he used his legs to keep her legs at bay with no means of escape as she struggled in vain.

"Get the fuck off of me!!" She shouted, but the mercenary persisted.

"Not until you answer me. Why am I on dis list?!"

During this time, Bugs could almost clearly see the tears relinquishing from her eyes as Lola momentarily ceased her struggles before sobbing her eyes out in despair.

The simple fact that she was crying both concerned and confused the gray mercenary, yet he kept his hold on her to provide no assurance of escape.

"Please…" He spoke calmly as a means to reason with her while simultaneously relinquishing his right hand from her left wrist – her left arm falling to the side as a result – to take the list from his pocket and showing it to her. "I want to know why you have me on dis list. Did ya intentionally bring me here for you to kill me?"

With her breathing at ease, Lola issued a soft nod in response.

"Why?" He asked.

As the tears fell from her closed eyes, she spoke.

"Because I have no choice. Now they are never gonna let me go." She said as she sniffed her tears. "They are never gonna let me go."

In that particular moment, Bugs realized what was going on which led to sympathy towards her. She was in the same predicament that he was in. He was on the target list. If the task wasn't perform, no retirement.

It would seem that these two rabbits have a lot in common: They like carrots, they're both trained assassins, they're strong in combat, and they both wanted out of their previous life to which they find themselves in the same situation.

Bugs could simply relate to this as he slowly relinquished his left hand from her right wrist and softly caressed away the fallen tears from her eyes. Afterwards, he caressed her blonde hair while she sniffed up her tears.

When Lola found herself free to move her arms, she thought about fighting away from him, but found that she was caught in a trance by the time she caught sight of the eyes of the person that she was charged to kill.

Then, the realization struck her. _Could she be having feelings for him? Is that why she couldn't administer the kill before_?

As he was wiping away the remainder of her tears, Bugs found that he was in a similar predicament as his eyes met with her beautiful blue ones.

During this trance, both rabbits found themselves slowly starting to move their faces closer to each other. By the time that happened, they were engaged in a tender kiss.

The kiss was warm and luscious as their tongues danced along their mouths.

Lola moaned slightly from this passionate sensation while Bugs did the same.

During this passionate moment, Lola started to sit herself up and wrapped her arms around the gray hare's neck while Bugs did likewise with her mid-waist.

Simultaneously, they started to undo each other's clothes while stopping the kiss to accomplish most of that.

However, Bugs only succeeded in undoing her tank top that exposes her breast including her skirt until her bare buttocks was shown while Lola only undid his pant and slid it, including his poke-dot boxers, down halfway leaving his shirt untouched.

As soon as that was done, they resumed the lip-lock while both were half-naked as Lola braced the gray hare's right cheek.

It wasn't long before Lola reversed the maneuver so that she would be on top of Bugs.

After a while, they released the kiss as Bugs sat up and caressed his lips to her exposed left nipple while at the same time, feeling his rabbit hood snake its way out, to which the gray mercenary took note of, yet grew careless about at this time.

Lola, with her head tilted back, issued a passionate moan upon the massage before noticing the gray hare's sex organ rubbing up against her tail and her buttocks.

With a lust for more, she decided to position herself on the organ as Bugs moaned from the sensation.

Lola, on the other hand, cringed upon feeling a sudden pain from that action, yet the pain subsided quickly before a sensation of pleasure took its place as she bounced up and down onto the gray hare's sex organ with a soft rhythm and a passionate, yet erotic moan.

Bugs cringed and moaned from this sensational feeling as he positioned his lips towards the right nipple of her breast while at the same time rubbing her slender back with his hands.

As Lola, with her eyes closed, moaned from the massage of the gray hare's lips to her left nipple area, Bugs reversed the maneuver once again so he would be on top of her while the tan bunny wrapped her legs around his waist without the purpose of release.

Afterwards, they resumed their romantic, yet sensual moment of lovemaking.

* * *

(**Fifteen Minutes Later**)

Fifteen minutes has come to pass as Bugs and Lola, who moments ago has placed their clothes back on, were trying to keep their breath under control at the moment from their sensual experience.

Recently, Bugs, out of worry, questioned Lola on the consequences of their tryst, while the tan bunny spoke on the matter in the form of birth control that she took recently, which eased the gray mercenary of his worries.

After they were done catching their breath, both were silence, unable to exchange words to each other at the moment.

But it almost struck Bugs as odd at having an intimate tryst with someone that he was charged to kill, vice versa with Lola.

Almost instantly, they started to speak at the same time, before halting in anticipation to that.

"You go first." She spoke.

Bugs nodded before speaking the words that has been recently on his mind throughout the past days.

"You know, when I came back here to Los Angeles, all I eva wanted to do was get off dis job. You know, have a normal life." He spoke before diverting his gaze to Lola, who took notice. "And den, I met you. And from dat point on, I started havin' dese unusual feelings dat I couldn't shake. You know? Even on da job, I couldn't shake dese feelings dat was on my mind."

Lola grew silence for a while before speaking.

"So these feelings that you have, were you having those feelings for me?"

Bugs almost stammered upon the question before his cheeks involuntarily turned red.

Lola noticed and snickered.

"I'm sorry. I didn't--"

Bugs shook his head.

"No, no. It's okay. I always blush involuntarily."

Lola shook her head while diverting her gaze from Bugs.

"No, it's not that. It's just…" She started as her mind trailed in thought for a while. "It's just that I had no idea that you had those kinds of feelings for me."

Bugs issued a slight smile upon those words before speaking.

"Guess I was kinda shy."

Lola issued a snicker from her mouth before issuing her gaze to the gray hare.

"Is that the reason why you didn't pull the trigger?" She spoke.

Bugs' smile diverted to a soft frown upon the question, yet he nodded in response.

With her gaze diverted downward, Lola grew slightly stunned by the response, yet she nodded.

"Oh."

"What about you?"

Lola looked up to Bugs.

"Me?"

Bugs nodded.

"On da rooftop, you lowered yer gun. Was it because you were out of ammunition or something else?"

In silence, Lola took this into thought before speaking.

"Both."

Upon that response, Bugs showed no immediate reaction to this. Instead, he nodded in comprehension.

Then, a thought recently came to the gray mercenary's mind as he spoke.

"How long have ya known about me?"

Lola shook her head.

"I didn't until the list gave you away."

Bugs grew slightly confused upon the comment as Lola noticed.

"Da list? What about—"

"The expression on my face when I saw you behind me?"

Bugs nodded.

"I was shocked both ways: The fact that you were on the list and the fact that you've known the truth about me."

In silence, Bugs nodded in comprehension, yet questions were still on his mind.

"When you said dat da list gave me away, den—"

"Certain people were suppose to be on that list, such as drug dealers, arm smugglers—"

"And professional assassins." Bugs spoke upon anticipation as Lola nodded. "But I don't get it. Why would dey want me dead?"

"That's a question I should be asking you on an opposite scale."

Bugs anticipated this statement and quickly got on the topic of the matter.

"I'm looking to retire from dis business. And in order to do dat, my boss instructed me for one last job. Unfortunately, dat didn't happen because two of my targets got on your list."

"Russell Styles and Damon Mortimer." She spoke upon anticipation.

Bugs nodded.

"Yep."

"And my interference into this matter has put me on your target list."

Bugs nodded.

"Dat's right. But da real remaining question is: Why was _I _on yer target list? I mean they gave me the task of taking you out not only because you interfered, but because it's valuable for my retirement. Why would dey make me your target when I didn't do anything remotely provocative on your end?"

In silence thought, Lola shook her head, yet her expression grimaced in anger upon the situation.

"I don't know. But I'm not liking it one bit."

In silence, Bugs grew in pondering thought for a while before speaking.

"What if…" He started, but hesitated at the last moment as Lola noticed.

"What?"

"Uh, 'dis is probably just an assumption, but what if da people dat we woik for is attemptin' to get rid of both of us? You know, kill two birds with one stone."

"More like kill two rabbits with one stone." Lola countered.

Bugs nodded.

"My point exactly, but what if it's possible?"

Lola took the theory into thought for a while.

"It's possible, but what do they have to gain by taking us out?"

Bugs pondered that question as well, yet his answer grew in silence.

Suddenly, a knock at the front door issued their attention.

"Eh, expecting someone?"

Lola shook her head.

"Not to my knowledge. Then again, this wasn't the first time this kind of thing happened."

A second knock issued as Lola got up from her bed and headed out towards the front door with Bugs trailing behind her.

* * *

As they entered the living room, Lola spoke during their approach to the front door.

"Who is it?"

"Housekeeping." A woman spoke in a brief, fearful whimper from the other side of the door.

As Bugs positioned himself on the left sidewall next to the door with his arms crossed, Lola, rather than look through the peephole, grasped her left hand to the doorknob in her attempt to open it.

However, she halted upon a sudden anticipation as Bugs noticed.

"What is it?" He questioned out of curiosity.

In slight silence, Lola diverted her attention to the gray mercenary.

"I don't remember a housekeeper being in this apartment." She spoke in a whisper.

Before he could speak on the matter, Bugs' attention was directed to the peephole where, to his alerting shock, a faint red laser sight was positioned at the left side of Lola's head.

Lola took note of his expression, but before she could speak, Bugs grasped her right wrist and yanked her towards his position before a silence bullet breached through the glassed peephole, yet missing its mark.

With Bugs' gaze fixated on the door, Lola, regardless of her relief from harm's way, snatched her wrist back, which deterred his attention from the door to her.

"You okay?" He asked.

Lola nodded.

"Yeah, but in the future, go easy on the wrist, all right?"

Before Bugs could speak his apology, a banging sound issued his and Lola's attention back to the door.

_BANG! BANG!_

Then, the door breached open by the third hit as an unknown masked entity, who shoved the frightened woman aside due to un-needed help, started to approach towards the inside of the apartment complex with the sniper gun at the forward aim.

During the slow approach, the mysterious entity started surveying the living room area.

Nothing was inside, yet the mysterious figure was unconvinced as the masked person crossed the threshold into the apartment.

Suddenly, from behind a chair next to the entrance, Bugs ran out from his hiding spot, grasped the mysterious figure on the shoulders from behind and threw him up against the wall.

As a result, the masked figure's sniper gun was relinquished from its hand and thudded to the ground.

Upon quick recovery, the masked figure took note of its gun and started to reach for it before halted its stop at gunpoint from a stern, hardened gray mercenary.

"Don't even think about it." Bugs spoke, his sniper gun, which he has managed to snag from the bedroom, trained on the masked entity.

During this predicament, Lola took the time to go out the front door and tend to the lady that was shoved aside only to find that the woman was gone, quite possibly back to her apartment room.

To this knowledge, Lola could only assume that this woman has already called the police of the incident, which means that they have to leave.

As she got back into the apartment, Bugs unmasked the gunman to an unrecognizable face. It was the face of an orange mid-30s tiger with whiskers on his cheeks and blue eyes.

Lola looked to the tiger with wide recognition planted on her face.

"Who the hell are you?" Bugs sternly spoke.

The tiger grew silence in defiance as Bugs slowly grimaced with irritation before taking close aim to the tiger's temple with his finger ominously firmed on the trigger.

"Unless you want a bullet into your goddamn skull, you tell me who da fuck you are right now!"

Slowly, the tiger's facial expression grew of defeat due to the gray mercenary's promising threat as he spoke.

"My name is Jason Weaver."

"Who sent you? Why are you even here?"

"Who sent me isn't your concern. Why I'm here is to finish the job that she can't."

"Eliminate me." Bugs anticipated.

"That's part of the reason."

Lola's expression grimaced with anger upon the previous actions that was performed earlier by this assassin.

"And the other part was a laser sight directed at my face?"

"Lola…" Bugs started in his attempt to calm her down while his sight was still trained on the assassin before Lola resumed.

"Since when has my becoming a task of elimination has been part of a failed assignment?"

Jason chuckled wryly.

"Come on, you know better than that. You want answers, you go to our bo—"

Suddenly, a silent gunshot zipped through the glass window from the outside and pierced its way through the assassin's cranial skull, splattering blood onto the wall that he laid upon.

When the gunshot started, both Bugs and Lola flinched in startle shock from that event.

Upon quick recovery from the shock, they saw that Jason Weaver, the one that was just about to provide them with answers, now lies dead in Lola's apartment building.

But upon this revelation came to anticipation to both mercenaries: _A sniper was on the roof trying to gun them down with an automatic weapon_.

Wasting little time, both mercenaries made haste out of the apartment room in hopes to make their way to the adjacent apartment on the outside to apprehend the sniper while at the same time, the silent gunshots trailed behind them from the outside window.

* * *

_**I apologize for the long wait to get this story back and running again. Like I said, I had a lot to deal with in the real world these days. Anyway, keep on the lookout for more. Ciao!**_

_Next chap: Stanley and Winifred gets themselves involved in a high-speed chase_.


	11. Chasing the Culprits

Chapter Eleven: **Chasing the Culprits  
**

* * *

By the time Bugs and Lola made it to the entrance way of the building, they evaded back inside equally against the sidewall to elude the multiple gunshots headed their way.

The bullets managed to make their way inside the building, luckily hitting nothing but air and sidewalls, while several more collided with the concrete on the outside.

When the gunfire momentarily seized, Bugs took a peek out to discover that there was more than one shooter – There was two, each equipped with a machine gun. And they were aiding the sniper in a bid to escape.

It was then that the gray mercenary noticed the two gunmen making a run for it towards a black carrier van that the sniper managed to hijack.

"Come on, let's go!" Bugs beckoned to Lola.

Wasting little time, both Bugs and Lola quickly exited the apartment. But had to quickly take cover at the side of an empty car upon machine gun fire that ricocheted off the rims and made contact with the windshield, shattering it.

The distraction was enough for the shooters to make their getaway inside the back of the van with the sniper driving.

Bugs and Lola quickly got out and ran into the streets while taking aim in the direction of the van.

But halted their stop upon realizing their distance from the getaway van.

"Shit." Bugs spoke while lowering his aim.

Lola followed suit.

"What now?" She asked.

In silence, Bugs looked to the right side to find an assortment of cars lined up by the curves.

Then, an idea formed to the gray hare's mind.

Lola noticed and has gotten the idea with a smirk to her face.

"We're following them, aren't we?"

The only answer that she got from Bugs was a twitch of his whiskers, a clear sign indicating a positive answer to her question.

* * *

Seconds later, they got inside the empty car, Lola in the passenger's side while Bugs was in the driver's seat currently in the process of hotwiring the vehicle since they were without keys.

Lola took note of this.

"Didn't know you knew how to hotwire a car."

With his attention still to the wires, Bugs shrugged his shoulders while colliding the two separate wires together in an attempt to jumpstart the car.

"Eh, what can I say? It's like ridin' a bicycle."

As Lola snickered, the car jumpstart to life as Bugs entwined the wires together to keep it started in that position.

Afterwards, he positioned himself in the driver's seat, fastened his seatbelt, and closed the door--Lola performing the same method.

When that was done, Bugs pressed his foot against the accelerator, driving off from the curve side and into the streets in their chase to catch the culprits.

* * *

_Meanwhile_…

(**Inside Police Cruiser**)

After having failed to apprehend the intended suspect, Stanley leaned back against the front seat of his cruiser with a hint of discouragement and disappointment in his expression as Winifred took note of this from the passenger's side. Her expression etched with concern, yet managed to compose a smile on her face in her attempt to cheer him up.

"Cheer up, Stanley. You'll get the guy next time."

Stanley took a deep breath before speaking his words.

"Winny, I placed a tracking device on him. I nearly had him up on that rooftop, only to find that he slipped through my fingers in an alleyway ditching the device to a rat."

Winifred nodded.

"Yeah, I know. You told me, but still, it's no reason to be discouraged."

From his position, Stanley looked to Winifred, a ping of annoyance in his eyes to which she noticed.

"No reason to—" He started before she intervened.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you had a chance encounter with him twice already. Maybe three times the charm."

Diverting his eyes from his partner a bit, Stanley had time to think on her words. But was interrupted by static suddenly issuing from the police radio.

"_Dispatch to Unit 139_." A dispatcher's voice spoke.

With a sigh, Stanley grasped the radio communication device before speaking.

"Dispatch, this is Unit 139."

Static.

"_We had a distress call on a shooting at an apartment complex_."

Before Stanley could utter a word, both he and Winifred grew greatly startled by a black vehicle speeding past their cruiser.

"What the hell was that?" Winifred asked.

Before Stanley could speak on the issue, another speeding car in the distance has caught his sight in the rearview.

But something else has caught the officer's eyes as he looked out his window.

The headlights of the vehicle swerved across the road while the vehicle itself sped passed the cruiser.

Time virtually slows to an extent between the two cars as Stanley's eyes widened upon a sight that he was clearly seeing.

Passed the passenger side, slightly acknowledging the second passenger, he saw long, gray rabbit ears in the driver's seat.

Time reverted to normal and the car sped across the road.

Instantly, Stanley fastened his seat while Winifred noticed and did the same, yet was curious as to why.

"Stanley, what's going on?"

Instead of answering to his partner, Stanley got back on the communication link and spoke.

"Dispatch, send a unit over to that apartment complex for crime scene inspection."

Static.

"_10-4_."

Curiosity suddenly turned to worry on Winifred's part due to her partner's actions.

"Stan?"

"I saw him." He spoke without much of a glance in her direction.

The sudden answer came of a surprise to the female officer.

"Whoa, what?"

Stanley nodded as he started the engine.

"Yeah, he's the driver of the second car that just sped by here and has a possible hostage inside."

Before Winifred could speak, Stanley accelerated the car from the curve and sped off into the streets in pursuit of his intended suspect.

* * *

A high-speed chase was in progress in the middle of the night city four-lane street as two cars were sprinting in the road while a police cruiser was quickly pursuing both.

Surprisingly, no other cars beside the three on the road were present at the moment.

* * *

(**Inside Police Cruiser**)

"Be careful, Stan. For all you know, there might be designated drivers on this lane."

"What, in the middle of the late night? Hardly."

It grew silence after that as Winifred tried to keep herself coordinated in her seat from her partner's fast driving.

Then, she decided to speak to Stanley on a confusing issue.

"Listen, Stan, did the captain write your file?"

"Once." Stanley spoke while his attention was on the road. "The guys at work do the rest of the processes on other officers now. Why?"

"Well, I read your file. And according to the captain, it said it has been a year since your last partner's—"

"Yeah, it was a typical error." Stanley corrected before resuming. "It should have been four years, not one. I forgot to remind him about that."

Winifred nodded.

"Oh." She spoke before directing her attention forward. "Shouldn't you use the siren to get their attention?"

Stanley shook his head.

"No, that'll spook this guy. I want to catch him off-guard."

* * *

(**Carrier Van**)

In the back of the carrier van, one of the gunmen took a peek through the wedge of the double back door to find that a car containing two rabbits is pursuing them from behind.

The first gunmen looked to the second.

"We're being pursued."

To that knowledge, the second gunmen, positioned further from the doors, grasped a handle and opened the small window where the mysterious sniper was driving the vehicle on the other side.

"We got someone behind us. We think it's them." The second gunmen confirmed.

The sniper grew silence for a while as if coming to a strong conscionable debate on the issue before speaking.

"Take care of it." He spoke softly.

With a nod, the second gunmen closed the small window while the sniper kept driving with one thought in his mind.

'_God in heaven, forgive me_.'

* * *

Meanwhile, in the secondary vehicle, Bugs and Lola were still in pursuit of the van, both being unaware of being followed themselves from behind.

Suddenly, to their alert, the double doors to the back of the moving van was opened revealing the two gunmen aiming their machine guns in their direction while at the same time leaning against opposite sides of the moving van to coordinate their stances.

"Get down!!" Bugs shouted as he and Lola ducked down before the rapid fire of bullets collided against the rims and windows of the car, causing the driver to swerve back and forth between lanes to avoid the gunfire.

* * *

(**In Police Cruiser**)

Both Stanley and Winifred stunningly bore witness to that sight a couple of feet from the second vehicle.

"That's gunfire." Winifred spoke.

Stanley nodded, his expression hardened and stern.

"Yeah, and it looks like it's coming from whoever is in front of them. Let's hope we can stop this before the streets become a war zone and citizens get caught in the crossfire.

* * *

Meanwhile, as the gunfire seized momentarily, Lola, still crouched down, replaced a magazine into her sidearm before gazing to Bugs, who returned the look simultaneously trying to gain back control of the car. Miraculously, the front window—although reduced to a few cracks--still stood firm despite the holes applied to it by bullets.

"I'll cover you!" She spoke.

Although worried for her safety, Bugs nodded.

"Be careful."

With a confident smile, Lola nodded in response before reaching over to a switch to let her side of the window down.

After that was accomplished, the she-rabbit quickly got half of her body out the window and took aim.

The gunmen on the right side of the van took note of the female assassin and quickly took aim a little late before Lola opened fire.

He staggered and grunted in pain as two shots collided into sections of the gunman's chest before he, out of reflect from his arm and hand, swung the door closed to deflect the other bullets coming his way.

Lola quickly slid her body back into the car before bullets, from the first gunman on the left of the van, riddled the rim and torn off the left rear-view mirror.

* * *

(**In Police Cruiser**)

"Did you see that?" Winifred asked.

Stanley nodded.

"Yeah. Apparently, the passenger's not a hostage after all."

* * *

(**Carrier Van**)

"You all right?" The first gunmen asked, taking note of his partner's wound while simultaneously closing the other door on his side of the moving van.

The second gunmen gritted his teeth, his face cringed from the rising pain as he braced his chest that etched two bullet shot wounds where his life fluids were draining from.

"Fuck, does it look like I'm all right? I got two to the fucking chest!" He spoke while groaning from the pain.

* * *

Inside the secondary vehicle...Bugs looked to Lola, his face etched with concern.

"Dat was a close one. You all right?" He asked.

Lola nodded.

"Yeah, but I think I got the guy."

"Good."

* * *

The chase dragged on in a constant straight pattern for a few minutes before the left door on the back of the moving van opened to reveal, to Bugs and Lola's widened shock, the first gunmen carrying a rocket launcher over his left shoulder.

The first gunmen grinned evilly before depressing the trigger.

"Oh, fuck!" Bugs and Lola spoke in unison before the weaponry unleashed its single arsenal.

Almost immediately, Bugs swerved the car to the left direction on another lane, narrowly avoiding the rocket as it passed by them.

* * *

(**In Police Cruiser**)

"STAN, WATCH OUT!!!" Winifred bellowed with her eyes widened in fear upon the sight of a rocket hurdling towards them.

* * *

Wasting little time, Stanley swerved the vehicle, it's tires screeching loudly on the road, to the right side on another lane also narrowly avoiding the hurling rocket, which descended and exploded on contact with the concrete ground of the street creating a fiery crater afterwards.

* * *

(**In Police Cruiser**)

Winifred, her expression beyond panic and horror, got back in position of her seat after witnessing the results of the rocket attack.

"Jesus, what the fuck was _that_?!" She asked breathing heavily while Stanley's stern eyes stayed to the road.

"A rocket launcher and it came from that moving van in the lead."

"Turn on the siren, Stan." She spoke in a panic as Stanley notice, but kept his eyes to the road.

Stanley shook his head.

"No, I'm not turning on the siren, Winny. Calm d--"

"Stan, either turn on this goddamn siren or I'm calling this shit in!!" She shouted, her expression of anger and panic directed to him.

"Winny, I told you I don't want to spook this guy away with the siren!!" He shouted back.

Immediately, Winifred went to reach for the CB radio only for Stanley to issue a firm grip to her right wrist, preventing her from that attempt as she came to gaze with her partner, whose attention was still to the road, but managed an occasional quick glance to her.

"Do _not_ call this in, Winifred!" He ordered. "We can stop this!"

"And what if we can't? We don't even know what we're dealing with."

"You're right. But we can still stop this. Trust me on this one, all right?"

Every ounce of desperation cries for Winifred to make this call in hopes to end this, but Stanley's words somehow told her otherwise as her outstretched arm went limp in defeat.

Stanley, upon note of that sensation, relinquished his firm grip from her wrist and back into position of the wheel before Winifred spoke again while her attention slowly directed forward to the road.

"I trust you, Stan. But goddamn it, you better be right about this. Because regardless of the fact that there are no cars on the side, people--innocent bystanders--are still wandering these streets. And I will not have their lives on my conscience if this stunt goes south. Do you understand me?"

Stanley nodded.

"Yeah. Understood."

* * *

The van swerved left to another street as the second car got on pursuit followed midway by the cruiser car.

* * *

(**In Secondary Vehicle)  
**  
Due to the incident with the launcher, the second vehicle was losing the van by a couple of feet, but Bugs managed to catch up to them.

"Bugs, be careful, this guy might fire another launcher."

"I know, which is why it's imperative that we slow dis van down. Here, take da wheels." Bugs instructed as he relinquished his hands from the wheels and unbuckled his seat belt.

Lola, after unbuckling her seatbelt, quickly took the wheels noticing Bugs' movements to the window while at the same time keeping her eyes on the road.

"What are you going to do?" She asked while trying to succession to keep the car driving in a proper pattern.

"I'm gonna flat the tires!" He spoke as he, after getting his window all the way down, got his body halfway out his side of the window with his sidearm in hands.

The back of the van's double doors were close, so Bugs would have to make this quick before they open up again and resume their assault.

Taking precise aim towards the tires, Bugs fired a few shots and managed to flatten the left tire on the back.

But the van didn't slow down. Instead, it kept going while shards of the tire shred off from the road.

To that knowledge, Bugs tried to take aim to the right back tire, yet couldn't get an accurate aim from his position.

Then, the left back door of the van opened, to Bugs' notice, and the henchman took aim to him with a machine gun before firing.

Bugs quickly got back inside the car while the bullets destroyed the left rearview on his side.

Then, time virtually slows as one stray bullet managed to come in contact with the back of Bugs' right hand a mere second before he was able to get back in.

Luckily, it was a graze, but the action drew blood from that area as Bugs winced while grimacing strongly in pain.

Regardless, Bugs got back in position of the wheel while Lola got back in position of her seat before noticing the bloody wound on the mercenary's hand, which struck her concern.

"My God, you're bleeding." She said while buckling her seatbelt.

"Don't worry. It's a graze. Listen, I need you to take out da back tire on the right. Can you do dat?"

Despite her concern for his well being, Lola nodded before rolling down her window, but before she decided to go out, she kept a cautious eye on the van's back doors. While doing so, she proceeded to position half of her body out of the window frame and, with her sidearm in hand, took precise aim before firing a few shots thus flattening the right tire.

But the end results were the same as the left tire as Lola immediately got back in the car and fastened her seatbelts.

"No good. It's still going." She confirmed.

As Bugs had his eyes forward, he noticed the right door opening again to reveal the gunman with the machine gun trained on him.

It was then that Lola noticed that Bugs was without his seatbelt.

'_His seatbelt isn't on_." Her thoughts spoke.

But it begs the question as to why. And before she could question him on that, she looked towards the gunman's position, and then back at Bugs before coming to a surprising theory.

"Wait a minute, you--Bugs, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Dis."

Immediately, Bugs pressed his foot down on the accelerator and applied speed to the car. Lola exclaimed in surprise by this action while trying to keep in position of her seat.

As the car sped towards the van, the gunman took stunning notice before firing towards the car, once again riddling the vehicle with bullets from front to middle.

Despite the action, the car kept going until it collided against the van with enough force to have Bugs launched through the front bullet-holed window—shattering it in the process—and lunging the gunman to the platform ground.

Unfortunately, his very actions caused the gun in the henchman's hand to go off in the wrong direction: _The driver's section. _And it was where the sniper was positioned, which resulted in the driver catching a few bullets to the back.

The driver grunted in pain as the front window was splattered with his blood upon one bullet's exit wound from his chest.

* * *

Back in the second car, Lola managed to quickly grasp the wheel to keep the car in a steady position while observing the action on the back of the van, the back doors opening and closing every so often due to the vehicle's movements.

But then, she noticed that the van was skidding fiery sparks from the now metallic tires and swerving back and forth to a point where it was out of control.

Lola's expression grew of worry as she quickly unbuckled her belt and got in the driver's seat.

'_Bugs, I hope you know what you're doing_.' Her thoughts spoke as she started driving towards the left side of the van in hopes to halt the sniper from driving.

* * *

Meanwhile, the second henchman, although injured and etched with bullet wounds on the chest, decided to offer help to his partner by wrapping his left arm around Bugs' neck while the mercenary struggled against it without getting into a choking fit.

The first henchman took notice regaining his posture to stand.

"Keep him still." He ordered while retrieving his machine gun that was discarded earlier in the struggle.

While that happened, Bugs, still struggling with grinded teeth, managed to open his eyes and saw what was happening before the first henchman turned around and aimed at the long-eared mercenary with a crooked smile to his face.

"Sorry, Mr. Bunny. It was nothing personal, just business."

As the gunman's finger firmly pressed against the trigger of the machine gun, Bugs swiftly elbowed the second henchman in the sternum, which the henchman grunted from the action.

The action alone caused the second henchman to loosen his grip, which compelled Bugs to quickly switch positions before the machine gun went off, riddling the first henchman's partner instead with bullets.

Each impact unleashed blood from the wounds as the second henchman grimaced and grunted in sheer pain.

When the gunfire momentarily seized, Bugs quickly un-holstered his sidearm, took aim, and fired a couple of shots at the first henchman before the gunman could even realize what he has done to his partner.

The gunman staggered about against the van's wall and grunt in pain upon each impact the bullets made to his body, unleashing blood from the wounds in the process.

Afterward, the first gunman, with a deadpan look in his eyes, slid down the wall—his blood staining vertically on the wall as a result—to a sitting position.

Panting, Bugs, having dropped the deceased second gunman to the ground, lowered his aim and holstered his sidearm.

* * *

Still at the left side of the van, Lola managed to drive her way towards the front only to be stunned by what she saw: _Blood spattered on the front window and an injured, yet subconscious driver at the seat_.

* * *

Having kicked one of the double doors open, Bugs started struggling his way up to the roof of the van. Once he succeeded, he carefully crawled his way over towards the passenger's side.

Knowing that his very action with the gunmen in the back has set off bullets to the front, chances are that the driver may have taken a few bullets, which is why it was only imperative for Bugs to get to the driver and get him out alive to get some answers before the van comes to a crash course. Or at least take control of the van to avoid a crash.

As soon as he got to the passenger's side, Bugs reached for the knob to his grasp and tried to open it, but it was locked.

Luckily, he had another alternative: _His gun_. Un-holstering his sidearm, he used it to shatter the glass of the passenger's side. After he was done, he holstered his gun back and looked inside to find that the driver was indeed injured.

Immediately, he started getting inside the van through the window and got to work by unbuckling the sniper's seatbelts.

Afterwards, he grasped the wheels to take control of the van, abruptly making a turn into an abandoned alleyway on the right side.

As soon as he managed to get the van off the streets, he quickly got down and used one hand to press on the brakes to stop the vehicle since the sniper was too injured to move at this point.

As soon as that was accomplished, Bugs shut off the ignition before grasping the fabric of the sniper's jumpsuit while slapping his face in order to keep him conscious.

"Hey, doc! Stay awake!" He spoke before resuming. "Who are you? Who sent you to take us out at da apartment? Huh?"

Not getting anything but a groan of pain and soft whispers, Bugs, with one hand, reached over and removed the mask only to become startled in horror by whom it was revealed.

"Daff?"

* * *

_**Wow, interesting twist, huh? Sorry about the long wait.**_.

_**As I said, lots of busy stuff in the real world. So anyway, until next chap, ciao**_

_In the next chapter, Stanley learns the stunning truth behind his partner's murder_.


	12. An Assassin's Lament

Chapter Twelve: **An Assassin's Lament**  
**  
**

* * *

Inside an office room, Captain Thomas Bernard was in the process of dealing with some documents on his desk when he halted his work upon hearing the door to his office open.

Looking up, he saw one of his male officers—and orange cat in police uniform-approaching towards and stopping at the front of his desk.

Thomas would've given his officer a stern lecture on the decency of knocking first before barging in had it not been for the look of urgency that he noticed on the officer's face.

"What is it, John?" Thomas asked while his facial feature etched with concern.

"Sir, we just received a 9-1-1 call stating that they heard and witnessed an explosion on the middle of an empty street."

"Jesus, any casualties?" He asked, his tone of dread for the answer.

To his relief, the officer shook his head.

"No, sir." John answered. "The caller also mentioned a police cruiser speeding passed their building before the explosion occurred."

Now Tom's expression grew of wide worry since he knew who occupies that cruiser.

* * *

Having unlocked the front door from the inside, Bugs, his facial image in a panic, quickly got out of the vehicle and raced over towards the front door.

When he got there, he opened the door, unbuckled the safety belt, and, with both hands, carried the injured body of his friend, Daffy Duck, out of the vehicle.

Daffy's back was etched with four bullet holes—his chest area planted with one hole-and his breathing grew labored as Bugs gently laid his friend on the ground while ignoring the blood from the duck's wounds staining his hands.

The sound of an approaching vehicle caught Bugs' ears, but he ignored it and kept his worried eyes on Daffy as one question came to mind.

"Daffy…why?"

Gagging and grunting slightly from the rising pain, Daffy used his shaking left hand to reach inside his left pocket to pull out a picture.

And what he revealed to Bugs grew widely stunning to the long-eared mercenary.

On the picture was a photo of a mid-30s female yellow duck with long yellow hair that's halfway behind her neck with a red bow tied at the end. She had a smiling orange bill and innocent beautiful eyes.

At that moment, anticipation formed in Bugs' eyes toward the situation as he looked to Daffy, whose eyes were formed with guilty tears towards his long-time friend.

While this was happening, Lola slowly approached towards their position, her facial image in stunning worry and confusion upon the scene.

"I'm so sorry. I-I…I never meant to hurt either one of you. But—But I didn't have a choice. Th—They were going to hurt her if I didn't do it."

"Shh, shh, don't speak." He spoke as he looked up and noticed Lola's presence.

Lola stopped her approach upon his gaze.

"Bugs, what—" She started before Bugs intervened.

"You still have your cell phone?" He asked as Lola nodded in response. "Call an ambulance, quick!"

Lola nodded.

"FREEZE!" A male voice shouted shortly before Lola could reach into her pocket as two silhouettes slowly advanced towards her position with handguns aimed in their direction.

The backlights of the van glared on the two shadows to reveal Stanley and Winifred in their police uniforms.

Bugs' eyes grew stunned upon recognizing one of them.

"Wait, I remember you. Da other day from da restaurant."

Having regarded the two dead bodies inside the back of the van and the injured Daffy Duck in Bugs' arms, Stanley narrowed his eyes towards the mercenary upon the implication.

"Yeah, well, can't say I had the pleasure, sir. Or is it Bugs Bunny?"

Not having the time for formal introductions, Bugs' eyes pleaded towards the officers.

"Please, you have to help him. He's—" He started to say before Stanley interrupted.

"Winifred, phone the ambulances." Stanley ordered and Winifred was quick to perform the ordeal by cell phone.

Afterwards, Stanley bored his eyes to Lola before confiscating her gun from her holster with his remaining hand.

"A little late in the night to pass yourself off as a hostage with a hot piece in your hand." He spoke. "Down on your knees, ma'am, hands interlaced behind your head."

Without a word, Lola slowly did as she was told.

Stanley, after instructing Winifred to keep her gaze to Lola, looked to Bugs, who laid Daffy to the ground and slowly stood up to look to the officer while his friend's blood stained his clothing.

With the aim of his gun still positioned forward, Stanley took a slow approach towards Bugs with a stern accusative glare in his eyes.

"You know, you're a hard person to find. I almost didn't recognize you in the restaurant. Hands laced behind your head." He ordered as Bugs took note of the officer's expression towards him with a hint of wonder, but kept quiet for now and did what he was told. "And since we're on the subject of recognition, let's recap, shall we? Now Russell Styles and Damon Mortimer, I get. They were both fucking scumbags sailing on the other side of the line."

Then, as he hesitated, his lips slightly quivered in anger to Bugs' notice, slowly indicating to the long-eared mercenary on where this conversation was going.

"But why…" He spoke again, his tone quivering upon the memories of that incident. "Why would you gun down an honest, hardworking cop?"

Almost immediately, Bugs' expression grew of confusion towards this accusation.

"Doc, what da hell are you—" He started before Stanley interrupted.

"Samuel Bergen, you remember him?"

As Bugs shook his head, Lola's eyes and face grew pale upon the mention of that name while her back was still to Stanley.

"I-I don't—I don't know who dat is."

Stanley scoffed unconvincingly.

"Really? What about the bullet you put in his back and trailed straight through me, huh?" He spoke as he took one hand off the gun and roughly pulled the fabric of his uniform apart to reveal to Bugs an unseen, yet visible scar wound on his chest. "You see that? That came from a piercing bullet that went through my chest while Sam Bergen, my partner, had his injured, deceased cadaver weighted against me! You remember that?"

Every word that Stanley spoke triggered flashbacks to Lola's mind, which ultimately compels her to control this situation before it got out of hand.

With the color returning to her face replaceable by a stern look of guilt, Lola slowly unlaced her hands and stood up simultaneously reaching for a hidden pistol in a holster attached to her right knee.

"Look, I'm telling you, I don't—" Bugs started before the click of a gun halted his speech.

Looking over Stanley's shoulders, Bugs saw, with widened eyes, the sight of Lola pointing a small snug-nose pistol to the back of the officer's head.

Terror and worry was Bugs' expression towards this action as Stanley stood his ground while his eyes diverted to the left in awareness to the situation, yet his face grew of confusion upon the dilemma.

"Holster you gun." Lola's whispered voice quivered.

Then, another click of the gun made its sound present, but Lola didn't turn around. She knew who it was: Stanley's partner, Winifred.

"Drop your gun!" Winifred ordered.

"Not until he holster his!" Lola countered.

"Lola, what are you doing?" Bugs asked out of desperation.

"Saving your life."

"Why the fuck would you save the life of a murderer?" Stanley asked, his angry glare staying to Bugs.

"Because he's not the one you're looking for!" She spoke, her tone etched of irritation towards the officer's disobedience. "Now holster your goddamn gun!"

In hopes to avoid any bloodshed, Stanley slowly holstered his weapon while the sound of sirens blared in the distance and caught Bugs' ears, which indicated that the ambulance was close by.

Afterwards, Lola lowered her gun while Winifred, in turn did the same as Stanley turned halfway to look at the tan bunny behind him.

"Okay, enlighten me. Who—" Stanley spoke before Lola interrupted.

"Officer Sam Bergen, age 29, has a wife and two kids. Partnered with Stanley Anderson for five years straight and had the tip of his tail shot off in the line of duty."

Lola's words were clearly analyzing whom she was speaking of, which slowly stunned Stanley as he fully turned around and looked to the tan bunny, his mind gathering on what was told to him.

Then, he thought back to his confrontation with Bugs seconds ago and became unconvincingly aware that the gray mercenary denies ever knowing Sam Bergen

But the fact that this she-rabbit knew his partner's background shockingly convinced the officer of one thing as his stunned gaze stayed to Lola, whose face etched with guilt, yet kept her tears at bay.

"You? You killed him?" His tone quivered.

With a exhale of breath, Lola nodded before providing an elaboration.

"It was my third time on the job." She spoke, partly quivering while trying her best not to fall apart in tears. "The hit was already performed by one of our own, but the people that I worked for believed that there were a few left that they missed that were still in the building. They dispatched me to take care of it. But I swear to God, I had absolutely no idea that two officers were in that building that night. I wasn't told on that issue. And because of that, I've been trying to quit this job. But it got too complicated for me to even try."

Tears threatened to fall from Lola's eyes as she sniffed them up while those that were present grew in stunned silence. Especially Bugs and Stanley.

All this time, Bugs thought that she was retiring simply to get out of the job. Now he knew exactly why.

Stanley was the most with loss of words. All this time, he's been going after a male assassin held responsible for his partner's murder when indeed it was a female assassin.

"I'm so sorry for what I've done. So if you're going to shoot someone, shoot me. Do right by your partner."

Almost immediately, Stanley un-holstered his sidearm and aimed directly at Lola's face, which brought instant fear to Bugs' eyes upon the situation.

Winifred, upon awareness of this, raised her gun up to take aim at, shockingly, her own partner.

"Whoa, Stanley, take it easy." She spoke in hopes to calm him down, but Stanley ignored her and kept his aim and vengeful glare to Lola, his face strongly tensed up.

"Lola…" Bugs spoke out of fear.

And before Bugs could make any movement, Lola made a gesture of her hand to him as a signal to stop.

"Stay where you are, Bugs." She ordered as her eyes stayed to Stanley while speaking to Bugs. "It's okay."

With the fearful expression intact, Bugs reluctantly obeyed, yet stayed alerted.

Afterwards, Lola remains quiet, as she stood firm and awaiting her end while Bugs remained stiff with fear in his eyes.

The sirens were growing louder as Winifred and Bugs took a glance to find that the ambulance van has arrived.

As the van stopped, the back double doors opened letting out a few EMT workers carrying a gurney.

As Winifred instructed them towards the injured, the EMT workers quickly waltzed passed the four parties to tend to Daffy.

Meanwhile, Stanley kept his glare to Lola, every ounce of his heated emotions that has bubbled inside of him for four years has been urging him to pull the trigger, to end the life of the person that has took the life of a dear friend and partner.

But somehow, common sense, as while as Lola's previous expression of guilt, has caught up with the officer, which compelled Stanley to ease the glaring expression on his face and slowly lower his gun, prompting Winifred to do the same with a calming breath escaping her mouth and Bugs growing relieved.

By now the EMT workers has waltzed passed them with Daffy in the gurney and hooked onto a life support system inside the van.

Closing the double doors, the ambulance van made its leave to the nearest hospital, leaving the four individuals in the alleyway.

Lola, upon note of Stanley's action, grew confused.

"I-I…I don't understand." She whispered.

With his eased, yet stern expression to Lola and with a slow breath, Stanley was able to speak.

"You know, every fiber of my being wants to put a bullet in you right now. But in spite of what I feel, I'm not going to do that. Because judging by the expression on your face, I believe that you are telling the truth, which means that you are not my enemy. I just wish that I could say the same about the people that you work for."

Upon realizing the implication of his statement, Lola shook her head as she spoke.

"Those guys came after us. Please don't get involved."

Stanley shook his head.

"I won't." He spoke as he holstered his gun. "But if you need help, you know what number to call. I just hope that you get the guy that gave the order to do my partner in before I do."

Lola nodded.

"You have my word."

Stanley nodded as Bugs made his way towards Lola with his worried expression intact.

"You okay?" He asked with his comforting hands braced to both her arms.

"Yeah." She responded with her gaze diverted a little from Bugs' eyes.

"Lola, I had no idea you—" He started before Lola interrupted.

"Yeah, I know. It was a burden on me ever since." She said, eventually eyeing Bugs, who smiled.

"Well, if you're going to take out your boss, I won't stand in your way."

Lola smiled.

"Thanks."

"Come on, let's head to the hospital and check on Daffy."

"And what about the dead bodies?" She asked.

"I called in a crime scene cleaning unit to this area." Winifred spoke. "They'll be a couple of minutes."

Looking from Winifred to Lola, Bugs spoke with his smile intact.

"Dat answer yer question?"

With the smile intact, Lola nodded in response as she and Bugs, hand and hand, headed towards the police cruiser with Stanley and Winifred trailing behind, as their next destination was the hospital.

* * *

_**Once again, my apologies for the delay in updates. Real world stuff can be a hand full. Regardless, thanks in advance for staying with the story. Anyway, it's not over until the end, so keep on the lookout. Ciao**_!

_In the next chapter, vengeful mercenary Bugs Bunny goes on a rescue mission_.


End file.
